http://gigaom.com/2013/05/14/google-ventures-invests-in-opencoin-the-firm-behind-bitcoin-exchange-ripple/
Is this a good news or bad news to Bitcoin?
Google Ventures has decided to invest in Ripple.
It is a good news because Ripple facilitates conversion between bitcoins and traditional currencies, which should aid mass adoption of Bitcoins.
Bad news because many people believe Ripple is Bitcoin 2.0 and threatens the existence of Bitcoin.
Is this a good news or bad news to Bitcoin?
Google Ventures has decided to invest in Ripple.
It is a good news because Ripple facilitates conversion between bitcoins and traditional currencies, which should aid mass adoption of Bitcoins.
Bad news because many people believe Ripple is Bitcoin 2.0 and threatens the existence of Bitcoin.
Ripple may be good for BTC in the short term, but neutral mid and long term. It's a just a p2p expression of the old banking system, with all his flaws that Bitcoin was designed to address:
- Ripple is centralized
- Ripple is no store of value - XRP's are controlled (and premined) by OpenCoin
- Ripple is debt based (you are not transferring assets like in BTC, you are transferring debt)
- Ripple implies that you trust a series of gateways, which is totally contrary at the core value of Bitcoin (no need to trust any third party)
You will see that all these points can be summed up in only one word: trust; the very first thing mentioned in the Bitcoin wiki, and the very thing that Bitcoin addresses.