{"id":12480,"date":"2025-02-11T14:31:32","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T14:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=12480"},"modified":"2025-02-11T14:31:32","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T14:31:32","slug":"author-blasts-ripple-as-completely-retarded-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=12480","title":{"rendered":"Author Blasts Ripple As \u2018Completely Retarded\u2019 \u2013 Here\u2019s Why"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Eric Yakes\u2014a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and the author of The 7th Property: Bitcoin and the Monetary Revolution\u2014published a blunt critique of Ripple and its associated XRP token on February 10. Yakes, who also operates in the Bitcoin venture capital sector as Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Epoch, voiced his disapproval on X with unusually stark language and a detailed rundown of what he perceives as significant flaws in Ripple\u2019s value proposition and governance.<\/p>\n

Yakes Slams Ripple And XRP<\/h2>\n

Yakes opened his post<\/a> with a broad attack on the fundamental nature of Ripple and its token, declaring, \u201cRipple is precisely the problem bitcoin was created to solve: printing fake money for political gain.\u201d He further asserted that, from his perspective, the entire enterprise lacked a legitimate use case, calling it \u201ccompletely retarded,\u201d and claiming he was compelled to \u201cwaste an hour\u201d researching Ripple ahead of a speaking engagement at a traditional finance (TradFi) conference. In his view, this research left him convinced that the company\u2019s technology and token economics resembled the very sort of centralized monetary issuance that Bitcoin was designed to eradicate.<\/p>\n

Yakes itemized his reasoning in detail. He described the remittance and central bank digital currency (CBDC)<\/a> objectives often associated with Ripple as inadequate, since, in his words, \u201cnobody wants to use a volatile, centralized, and illiquid bridge currency (XRP)\u201d when more appropriate options for remittances\u2014such as stablecoins or Bitcoin\u2014already exist.<\/p>\n

He also stated, \u201cThe only use case is to trick retail investors into pumping the token price,\u201d which he believes is orchestrated through marketing partnerships with banks, combined with political lobbying. He further suggested that the XRP token supply lacks true scarcity, contending that the ledger could be forked at will and that the foundation sells XRP to finance political agendas. Yakes maintained that these are precisely the types of issues Bitcoin\u2019s decentralized design was meant to counter<\/a>, remarking, \u201cThe entire problem Bitcoin was created to solve.\u201d<\/p>\n

His analysis went on to challenge RippleNet\u2019s reported volume figures, branding them as small relative to other digital assets. He referenced RippleNet\u2019s self-reported total settlement volume of $30 billion since inception and compared it to the daily turnover of Tether ($50 billion) and Bitcoin ($40 billion), concluding that Ripple\u2019s claim of large-scale adoption was \u201ca deceptive game of smoke and mirrors.\u201d He added that banks want the publicity of a \u201cpress release\u201d rather than actual usage of XRP, because he believes XRP itself does not address a real need in global remittances. He also described Ripple\u2019s network as centralized, pointing out that what he says was a recent unilateral shutdown indicates a lack of proper decentralized consensus.<\/p>\n

According to him, a primary node operator intervened without broader coordination, and the limited number of validators cannot realistically secure the network because they lack any financial incentive to run nodes. Yakes underscored his political argument by pointing out what he views as Ripple\u2019s dissonance with certain US government positions, stating that \u201cIts primary goal is to be a CBDC platform \u2013 drastically opposed to the Trump administration\u2019s executive order banning CBDCs.\u201d<\/p>\n

In closing his post, Yakes wrote, \u201cIf you want this corrupt group to achieve political favor to make their shitcoin worth something, you need to go find a higher purpose in life,\u201d leaving little doubt about his personal stance on both Ripple and its XRP token. Ripple executives have not yet offered a formal rebuttal.<\/p>\n

XRP Community Reacts<\/h2>\n

The XRP community, however, wasted no time in responding, with some voices immediately branding Yakes\u2019s statements as misinformation. One of the more notable responses came from Matt Hamilton, a developer who once worked at Ripple and has also been affiliated with Protocol Labs and Bittensor. Hamilton contested<\/a> what he sees as Yakes\u2019s conflation of Ripple the company and XRP the cryptocurrency. \u201cRipple and XRP are different things. One is a company (like Strike), one is a cryptocurrency (like Bitcoin). The stated goals of remittances and CBDCs apply specifically to Ripple, not XRP,\u201d Hamilton said.<\/p>\n

Hamilton also pushed back on Yakes\u2019s point about XRP\u2019s volatility, suggesting that because transactions on the XRP Ledger settle so quickly, the volatility factor is much less significant than Yakes implies. Referencing the broader ecosystem that exists on the XRP Ledger, Hamilton noted, \u201cYou can equally use stablecoins on the XRP Ledger (blockchain) if you wish.\u201d He also sought to clarify certain public narratives about Ripple\u2019s partnerships, arguing that while incentivizing early adoption is common practice for young companies seeking liquidity, it does not invalidate the protocol\u2019s underlying utility.<\/p>\n

When addressing the technical aspects of the XRP Ledger, Hamilton stressed that the ledger did not undergo a unilateral shutdown. According to him, the network halt that occurred last week was due to a failure to achieve immediate consensus<\/a>, which he described as a designed response rather than evidence of centralized control. Hamilton stated, \u201cThe network halted as designed due to temporarily being unable to reach consensus. This was not someone \u2018unilaterally stopping it.\u2019 The network then resumed once able to.\u201d He added that thousands of Bitcoin nodes run without direct financial incentives, underscoring that a similar principle can apply to validators in other open blockchain networks, including the XRP Ledger.<\/p>\n

Hamilton further disputed Yakes\u2019s assertions regarding Ripple\u2019s origins and political activities, saying that Ripple is indeed a US based company, whereas the XRP Ledger Foundation is a separate entity registered in Estonia that is now relocating to France.<\/p>\n

At press time, XRP traded at $2.48.<\/p>\n

\"XRP<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eric Yakes\u2014a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and the author of The 7th Property: Bitcoin and the Monetary Revolution\u2014published a blunt critique of Ripple and its associated XRP token on February 10. Yakes, who also operates in the Bitcoin venture capital sector as Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Epoch, voiced his disapproval on X with unusually […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-12480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12480\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}