Virtual Currencies Racing to Be Preferred Payment Method
New virtual currencies that seek to circumvent the legal problems of bitcoin are being created every month, but many insiders consider the Ripple online payment system the best candidate for replacing bitcoin. Ripple, founded by former bitcoin developers, not only supports a currency, but also a system on which any currency can be traded or transmitted without incurring heavy fees. A user can deposit any sort of money into a personal Ripple wallet via a business enrolled as a Ripple gateway, and that money can then be transferred to the wallet of another Ripple user, without going through a bank or a credit card system. Although people moving the same type of currency to another account on the Ripple system will not have to use its ripple currency, ripple is intended to provide the fastest and least expensive conversions between different national currencies or among various types of digital money. “I haven’t seen anything else as interesting as Ripple,” says Payward founder Jesse Powell. “As far as I’m concerned, bitcoin and Ripple are the only ones that have a real shot at being a big deal.” Still, despite the backing from more mainstream financial institutions, analysts say Ripple will have a hard time supplanting bitcoin.
From “The Rush to Coin Virtual Money With Real Value”
New York Times (11/12/13) Popper, Nathaniel