Sometimes, you may wonder, what would happen if you would be
able to invest your time and money at the very beginning of the company which later
turned big (think, Microsoft, Google, or Facebook). You need to be in the right
place at the right time, and you should be ready to take a risk. Definitely,
for one winner there are thousand losers. But, so what? Calculated risk often
pays back great dividends.
First it was Bitcoin. Who could predict that virtual game
currency could turn into real investment? There were few believers, there were
few early adopters.
According to Norwegian news outlet NRK, Kristoffer Koch
decided -- on a whim -- to invest 150 kroner (about $26) in 5,000 bitcoins in
2009, soon after the Bitcoin network first came into existence. Koch is said to
have discovered the virtual currency while writing a thesis on encryption and
decided to put down a small investment out of sheer curiosity.
Unaware of just how successful bitcoins would soon become,
Koch says he promptly forgot about his digital stash; that is, until a flurry
of media coverage about bitcoins caught his attention earlier this year.
Koch reportedly had to scour his memory for the password to
the encrypted wallet that held his investment. When he finally figured it out
in April, he says he was stunned by what he found. "It said I had 5,000
bitcoins in there. Measuring that in today's rates it's about five million
kroner," Koch told NRK, according to a Guardian translation. That's about
$850,000.
That’s was in April 2013, and the same investment as of
today costs is more than $4 million. In June 2012, Bitcoins were worth $5. By
April 2013, they were up to $266. Then they dropped to $70 in April, steadily
raised by December 2013 to $1,200, and now above $820.
Virtual money turned real! But we all a bit too late to jump
in the carriage. But maybe that is not the case with the new trendy start-up
Ripple.
Ripple, a platform that just received funding from Google
Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and others, has
created both an alternative to Bitcoin and a distributed currency exchange for
Bitcoiners (and others) who aren’t comfortable using only Ripple’s currency,
known as XRP.
The Ripple network is a protocol. It’s like HTTP for money.
Users, merchants anyone can use it for free without a license.
The Ripple platform serves two purposes: it’s a distributed
open-source payment network, and it’s the home of the newly minted XRP currency.
As a payment network, Ripple provides free global payments without chargebacks
(minus a $0.0001 per transaction network charge, implemented as a security
precaution against hackers), the ability to pay in any currency using a
distributed currency exchange, and an open protocol that any developer can use.
Participants can exchange dollars, yen, Euros, and even
completely made-up currencies, all of which are entered into the system via
"gateways." Larsen says: "A UI designer and myself can be a
gateway to each other. A gateway can be a friend, neighborhood, a group. Most
gateways will be larger. It’s like the way Paypal works--you give them $100,
they create a $100 balance."
The only currency that doesn’t need to be entered into the
Ripple platform from a gateway is XRP. This is an advantage over Bitcoin:
Ripple is its own currency exchange.
What make me think this scheme has a serious future:
* The Ripple protocol is an open standard that can federate
existing payment networks, similar to how Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
federated messaging systems in the 1980s.
* Currency exchanges in Ripple are automatically processed
at the best available rate with no fees or added margins.
* Ripple allows users or businesses to transact in different
currencies without exposing themselves to undesired foreign currency exchange
risk. It allows instant cross-currency payments: you can send one currency
(dollars, euros, pounds, etc.) and the recipient receives another (yen, yuan,
rupees, etc.).
* Ripple can provide fast transactions (transactions can
typically be settled in only a few seconds).
* Ripple's was designed to be counterfeit-proof.
* Ripple makes micropayments cost-effective – even payments
less than a penny — opening the Internet to business models that would
previously have been impossible.
* No fear of inflation, since the total amount of Ripple
currency XRP remains constant.
* Ripple was developed by the people who gained their
experience on virtual currencies and translated their knowledge to the new scheme.
* Ripple got support and funding by several very serious
entities.
Here are some disadvantages as well:
* While opening Ripple account is easy and very fast, you
will not be able to perform any transactions before your Ripple wallet becomes
funded.
* You need a very small amount of at least 20 XRP (at the
moment 1 XRP costs a bit more than 2 cents), but getting it may be challenging
at first. You may purchase it easy, if you have Bitcoins, or with dollars, but
the process is very manual. The getaways for such transactions are very
crowded, and it may take significant time and efforts to do so.
How to start with Ripple:
2. When you first create a Ripple wallet, it will need to be
activated before it can be used. This prevents accounts from being
created automatically by computers and used in fraudulent ways. Activating an
account involves transferring a minimal number of XRP into the account (this
number is currently 20 XRP, though it can change from time to time – see
https://ripple.com/wiki/Reserves for
details). Until the account is activated, you will not be able to use it
for funding your account with other currencies, sending and receiving, and
trading.
3. If you know someone who already has a Ripple account, you
can ask your friend to give or lend you the required number of XRP. As said, you
can purchase bitcoins and convert them into XRP, which can be used to activate
your account. You can participate in one of the Ripple Labs giveaways to get
XRP for free.
4. Current giveaway you can get XRP for free is sponsored by
ComputingforGood.org. While you donate your idle computing power to scientific
research, you will get XRP from Ripple Labs. Anybody with an internet-connected
computer or Android device can participate, and unlike mining Bitcoins, does
not require super-duper hardware. Follow
the instructions on the site:
https://www.computingforgood.org/
5. Install the software, leave it run by itself, and make
some Ripples, while giving your unused resources to the just cause, like Cancer
Research, Environment, and others.
Other useful links:
2.
SnapSwap.us is
giving away 2,000 XRPs when you open up an account and link it to Dwolla! Also,
receive 500 XRP with your first deposit of $10.00 or more from your bank
account to your Ripple Wallet, and 3 XRP with every subsequent $1.00 deposited,
up to 300 XRP per transaction and up to 2,000 XRP total.
3. The
OpenCoin.in forum
is giving away 1 XRP for every forum post and awarding 100 XRP every week to
the member who posts the most that week!
4. Ripple Faucet. Come once a day and enter your Ripple
address to get 0.1 to 1 XRP. Not much, but fast and easy. Website:
http://ripplegiveaway.com/. Website
should be already funded to get into the raffle.
Sources and Additional
Information:
