For some time now, XRP has been embroiled in a struggle to try and convince some crypto enthusiasts and big industry players such as central banks, that it is not a security but rather a crypto-currency just like Bitcoin, ethereum and lite coin. The SEC is yet to give a conclusive verdict on the matter as yet. Recently, a crypto expert came in with a surprising point of view where he stated that XRP is not even a “real crypto-currency”. Giant crypto exchange platform, Coinbase, recently announced that it was considering the addition of five more tokens that will be supported on the Coinbase platform. Stellar Lumens is one of the coins on the American exchange’s shortlist for addition on their platform.
XRP did not make the 5 coin shortlist, which says a lot considering the simmering rivalry between XRP and Stellar Lumens. Crypto enthusiast Stephen Cohen recently communicated his intention to put up an investment in the crypto-based hedge fund, Autonomous Partners. The fund which is headed by Ariana Simpson is known for being XRP averse. Ariana Simpson’s explanation for avoiding XRP was that the fund had reservations about the level of Ripple’s centralization and had regulatory concerns if their token XRP was to be ruled a security instead of a crypto-currency. These are some of the hurdles Ripple has faced despite recording great progress this year. Ripple has also had to deal with lawsuits where investors accused them of selling unregulated securities disguised as XRP tokens.
The expert who made the bold claim about XRP not being a “real crypto-currency” is none other than Anatoly Castella, CEO of Elpis Investments. The Elpis investments main man went on to state that XRP is unlike other crypto coins since it lacks conformity to the “purest interpretation of crypto-currency”. He also went on to question the premise behind the Ripple’s technology, stating that it was different from the technologies behind Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC). Bitcoin and Ethereum represented storage of value while the Ripple token seemed more like digital fiat currency issued by a single company according to Castella.
The fact that Ripple has no miners also came up for critique by Elpis investments boss, Anatoly Castella. He stated that the lack of miners or mining for XRP was an issue that users should take note of. Ripple has no miners instead Ripple based transactions are supported by a centralized blockchain in order to promote speed and reliability. The fact that XRP’S parent company, Ripple Labs Inc. mined all the XRP tokens with a majority of them being held by them is a major red flag for users according to Castella. The Elpis investments CEO went on to predict a great value decline XRP was ruled as a security by the SEC.
