Ripple Sets the Example for Retail Investors
For 8 years now, the Ripple team, located in all corners of the globe, has been working tirelessly to lay the foundation for the Internet of Value. To note, the SVP of Product, Asheesh Birla, stated a couple years ago that when they started building the infrastructure, their timing was early. The volume on exchanges was considerably lower than it is today, and utility was not a strong consideration by many, but that didn't stop them. Chris Larsen had a vision from the beginning which was to move value as quickly and seamlessly as information moves today.
When you jump onto a laptop, tablet, or smartphone, you don't stop to think which internet service provider your friend or colleague has, you simply send them an email or a text and it just works without a problem. Also, it doesn't matter if it's a weekend or after 5:00 in the afternoon, the data flows to the recipient instantly without question. The vision for the same or better experience to occur within the payments realm existed long before it was built. Ripple decided early on that they would focus their efforts on cross-border settlement since their technology could provide a practical solution to a real-world problem.
Day after day, week after week, the company makes strides forward in the direction of the vision which was set from the beginning. The vision to level the playing field, allowing payments to be accessible by large and small players alike, regardless of planetary location. Of course, as with any new endeavor, the company and their employees are constantly being judged and criticized from different angles, including attempts to spread misinformation, or FUD, around the company or the digital asset, XRP. Criticism doesn't stop Ripple from making progress because they are confident in what they are building.
Why is it important to look at what Ripple has been doing for the past 8 years? Why is it important to see the foundation that's being laid down day after day, month after month? It is important because we can learn from their example. We can study the actions they are taking and adopt that same mentality, applying it to our daily lives. As retail investors, it is in our best interest to apply our own unique set of talents and abilities towards building the Internet of Value in whatever way we can.
Are you a coder or an app developer? You can design an app utilizing Xpring's resources to integrate Interledger as the underlying payment infrastructure. You can create a crypto wallet that sends and receives XRP, running on top of the XRP Ledger. You could build a website that integrates the Web Monetization model. You could partner up with Wietse Wind and construct an awesome service like XRP Tip Bot.
Not into code but love creating works of art? The XRP community is in need of more bloggers, podcasters, and vloggers. Publishing work on Web-Monetized sites such as Coil and Cinnamon is a great way to build and support additional utility around Ripple technology. Ripple hires staff from all walks of life with different talents and abilities because that is what it takes to form a strong team. Even though we as retail investors are not on staff per se, we can still contribute to the ecosystem by playing a role in it's development.
What Ripple is not doing... Ripple is not hating on other projects. Ripple is not spreading FUD about other cryptocurrencies. Ripple is not crying when a potential customer says no to their software. We can and should learn from the action that Ripple is NOT taking, in addition to the action they are taking. Ripple wants to see the digital asset ecosystem to expand and flourish, which fortunately does not involve putting other companies and projects down for one reason or another. The crypto community at large has somehow become tribalistic, thinking that their particular project is superior to others.
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, has said himself in multiple interviews, that he supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others because he believes that all boats can and should rise as a result of a growing, healthy ecosystem. Does that mean he doesn't have a favorite? No, it simply means that he doesn't shun or rule out other digital assets, yet understands that each one can serve a particular purpose in the market. It's the market that ultimately decides which assets are the most useful for a particular use-case.
Ripple has a special interest in seeing the XRP ecosystem grow and be used to solve real-world problems. To use simple analogies as Garlinghouse does, a gold company would have a special interest in the betterment of gold. An oil company would have a special interest in the betterment of oil. The difference with Ripple is that they are educating governments and universities on the power of blockchain technology as a whole, not solely focused on their own open-sourced software.
Right now, as we are entering the 2020's, the age of utility is rearing it's head through the door. If there is anything that Ripple can set the example for, it is by far how to take action despite all odds or obstacles. Can we as a community do the same thing? Can we, a community of retail investors use our gifts and abilities to put a dent in the universe? I think so, but it will require consistent, committed action like Ripple deploys. It will require that long-term vision to pull us forward when motivation only pushes us so far.
The future does not rest in the hands of Ripple alone. The future rests in the hands of everyone who is invested in expanding the Internet of Value until XRP is the standard payment vehicle across the world. Even then, there will be work to be had well into the future as the technology continues to grow and evolve past what we ever thought was possible. We, as a community of retail investors, are to be the change we want to see in the world.
HODL by itself is great. HODL + Action is even better.
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