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Just learned about Stellar and earned $XLM in return! Use my invite to join Coinbase and earn up to $50 of $XLM.; https://coinbase.com/earn/xlm/invite/mj754htk Just get the XLM and convert to Zerps 😁👍

Watching the top 10, ive notice XLM starting to climb (ahead of EOS now..) I was hoping to get some insight to what everyone here thinks of XLM vs XRP. Can there only be one winner? Personally I think XLM climb only comes from their give away nothing fundamental.. but I could be wrong. Disclaimer - My portfolio is 99% XRP 1% DOGECOIN I know I will get a XRP bias here but thought id ask anyways..

Hey Guys, As of December 29, 2017, the IRS has no record of the Stellar Development Foundation having tax-exempt status (see letter below). Therefore, as of the date of the IRS letter addressed to me below, the Stellar Development Foundation is not a nonprofit that typically comes to mind when we think of nonprofits (e.g., American Red Cross, United Way, The Salvation Army, American Cancer Society, UNICEF, etc.). Their website says the opposite and this is somewhat confusing. Now, here is the story. There have been too many posts here about Stellar and their digital asset XLM. You could argue XLM is a direct/indirect competitor to Ripple and XRP. That’s a discussion for a different day. But the way my research was conducted on Stellar was the same way my research was conducted on Ripple Labs, Inc. And my research into the Stellar Development Foundation brought to my attention a specific court case that you may or may not know about - Arthur Britto vs. Jed McCaleb et al (2015, San Francisco, California, Case CGC15544133) In the complaint filed by Arthur Britto, it was alleged that the Stellar Development Foundation was fundamentally not a nonprofit enterprise (please remember the word "alleged;" it was never proven in court. The case was dismissed and settled out of court). Anyways, this was not the first time this was brought to my attention, so I decided to look into this some more. According to the IRS, tax-exempt organizations must make annual returns and exemption applications filed with the IRS available for public inspection and copying upon request. In addition, the IRS makes these documents available. https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/exempt-organization-public-disclosure-and-availability-requirements For example, The Bitcoin Foundation, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington (state, not D.C.), makes their financials and IRS forms available online (no IRS request needed; they also have their address listed on their website). https://bitcoinfoundation.org/about/irs-990-forms/ https://bitcoinfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/BTC_Foundation_FY2016-FY2017_Financials.pdf According to the website’s Terms of Service, the Stellar Development Foundation is a Delaware nonprofit corporation. Although no address is listed on their website (couldn’t find one as of January 18, 2018), Stellar appears to be headquartered in San Francisco, California, for they are registered with the California Secretary of State as a foreign nonprofit entity (Delaware) doing business in California. "Well, if they are a nonprofit, their financials statements and what not should be on their website." That was my thought, for U.S law allows individuals and companies to request information on nonprofits, including the status of the nonprofit (i.e., one can actually lose their tax exempt status). I could not find their financials or their non-exempt, IRS tax documents anywhere, so I decided to keep digging. Found a memorandum posted on their website, and the memo was addressed to the Board of Directors of the Stellar Development Foundation, for they had asked about clarifying the Foundation's nonprofit status. The memo states that "the IRS allows an organization 27 months from the date of incorporation to file its tax exemption application and have the exemption, once granted, be effective retroactively to the date of incorporation." Here is the timeline: Stellar incorporated in Delaware - 3/31/2014 (0 months) Memorandum from law firm - 3/6/2015 (11+ months) IRS filing deadline - 6/30/2016 (27 months) My letter from the IRS - 12/29/2017 (44+ months; 17+ months past deadline) At this point, I check the IRS' website and do not find the Stellar Development Foundation on their tax-exempt list. So, I filled out the proper request paperwork and sent it in to the IRS, and found out everything out that way. To be completely honest with you guys, the reason for this posting is informational. Some of us here own both XRP and XLM. Stellar's application with the IRS could be pending still or something like that. Maybe they are operating under a different entity name (e.g., Ripple Labs, Inc. and XPR II, LLC). Maybe they are just operating as a for-profit and haven't changed their website (doubt it). If this status is correct, just be aware of it. Hopefully their partners are aware of it. Lastly, there is a difference between being a "nonprofit" (this is state level) vs. being "tax-exempt" (determined by the IRS). Very confusing. Stellar is a "nonprofit" at the state level (filed as nonprofit in Delaware). However, they are not tax-exempt (as of the date of my IRS letter). Ha, still going to buy XLM (and more XRP), for this space won't care about this and seems completely irrational at times. Later.

Looks as if the competition (Stellar) is taking it up a notch with their IBM partnership via IBM World-Wire. What do you guys think??

https://cryptoslate.com/coinbase-exploring-the-addition-of-cardano-basic-attention-token-stellar-lumens-zcash-and-0x/

If coinbase are looking for a safer bet, is Stellar a safer bet than ripple? Ripple invest their xrp in hedge funds and other investments that are vulnerable to an economic collapse of the us stock market, bonds etc. whats your thoughts? If they have xrp invested in the stock market and the stock market crashes, they will loose a lot of money right? Watch the video all the way through to understand what im saying!

Here is my latest blog. I've noticed that many XRP enthusiasts/investors I encounter online lack a firm understanding of the actual purpose of XRP and my hope is that this post can help people have a better understanding of the big picture. This blog is what I wish someone had compiled for me when I began learning about Ripple & XRP. I know there are a number of XRP veterans around here, but new people are joining us every day. Additionally, I find it to be fact that no business on the planet is taking the same business approach that Ripple is so I cover that as well. Criticism is welcome as long as it's constructive. Praise is preferred Here is the original link to this blog post in case you prefer a more aesthetically pleasing format: https://moonlambo.wordpress.com/2018/02/09/whos-competing-with-ripple/ Who's Competing with Ripple? February 9, 2018 By: Matt (Moon Lambo) No company in the world is trying to do what Ripple is trying to do. That's not to say they don't have competitors --- of course they do. But their competitors are going down a markedly different path. What is Ripple trying to do that is so different than anyone else? Who are Ripple's competitors? Why are their payment and liquidity solutions inferior when compared to the future that the team at Ripple envisions? Why isn't anyone else attempting to do that? I'll unpack all of this in today's blog. Pain Points On a high level there are two primary pain points for financial institutions when it comes to cross-border money transactions: Payments & liquidity. It's important to distinguish between the two because the problems associated with each, and solutions to each, are dramatically different. Insofar as payments are concerned, Ripple has been able to modernize the system without the need to implement a digital asset (cryptocurrency) in the solution. Ripple's xCurrent platform is capable of processing payment transactions in a matter of seconds, rather than days, while lowering operational costs. This technology makes entire layers of human management obsolete, and eliminating this labor expense is one way that Ripple is able to save banks large sums of money. In fact, Ripple's xCurrent is capable of reducing international payment infrastructure costs by up to 33%. Critics like to point out that Ripple solved the payments problem without any need for XRP. This is true, but such a comment is a red flag that the critics in question don't understand the purpose of XRP. The truth is that XRP was never intended to solve a payments problem; it exists to solve a liquidity problem. Why is liquidity an issue? Enter nostro/vostro accounts. A nostro account essentially references "my money in your bank" while a vostro account means "your money in my bank." These accounts are what banks use today to source liquidity for cross-border payments, and at any given moment more than $27 trillion is parked in these accounts in the form of every fiat currency you can imagine. XRP was designed as the solution to this liquidity nightmare. This digital asset can be used as a replacement for all nostro/vostro accounts. To be clear, this means that one digital asset, XRP, eliminates the needs for banks to have multiple accounts in various fiat currencies all over the world. This is important for a few reasons: Sourcing liquidity the old fashioned way can add roughly an extra day to the transaction process and requires labor for processing which is expensive. XRP transactions take mere seconds and require almost no human interaction. If you're a bank with a nostro account in a foreign country, the capital you store in this pre-funded account is dormant. It sits idle just in case it is needed for money transfers. Leaving funds dormant is certainly not the best use of liquid money. It would be better purposed if it were invested or otherwise utilized. Highly inflationary foreign currencies are a problem. Consider that in December of 2015, one United States dollar was worth 10 Argentine pesos, and two years later it was worth 19 pesos. This real world example shows that if you're a bank with a nostro account storing the Argentine peso, your money has lost a substantial amount of value over time compared to more stable fiat currencies such as the U.S. dollar. Without question this is a rather unappealing proposition, yet a necessary evil in today's world. There is a better way to do this. An Audacious Plan Miguel Vias, Head of XRP Markets at Ripple, once stated that his employer's mission sounds "audacious." I must admit I fully agree with him. Ripple seeks to make the transfer of money as quick and seamless as it is to send an e-mail today, and they call that the "internet of value." I believe that the most bold part of their plan is what Ripple is doing to position XRP as the standard source for liquidity of all global money transfers. When I opened this blog by stating that no company in the world is trying to do what Ripple is trying to do, this is what I was talking about. No other business is positioning any digital asset as a global solution for today's liquidity woes. Can you imagine hatching such a plan? Acknowledging that it's "audacious" barely scratches the surface when you consider what is necessary for Ripple to achieve their goals. First, Ripple had to create xCurrent, a payment technology that is so vastly superior to the system and processes that are in place today that banks would have no reasonable recourse but to adopt the new technology. Next, Ripple has to be a cheerleader for the use case of XRP as a pool of on-tap liquidity for cross-border money transactions. Keep in mind that Ripple does not own the XRP ledger system because XRP is a decentralized digital asset, but still they're fostering an environment in which XRP markets grow and gain actual value. Rather than attempting to force banks to source XRP for liquidity, they seek to prove to banks and financial institutions that XRP is the only real solution for the global liquidity problem they face. In fact, a bank that utilizes both xCurrent and XRP can save upwards of 60% in costs. Trillions of dollars are transferred around the world on a daily basis. That means that if XRP does one day replace nostro/vostro accounts, it's market cap will need to be in the trillions. Ripple has not blatantly stated that they have a goal of XRP one day reaching a market cap in the trillions, but it seems obvious to me that is what they're aiming for. That is what makes Ripple's plan seem audacious, but it's also the reason that it is truly visionary. A Perfect Storm How could it ever be possible for Ripple to clean up the train wreck that is the global money transfer system? It's thanks to a blend of fortuitous timing and incredible technology. XRP was created in 2012; just three years after blockchain technology was introduced to the world via Bitcoin. Since it's inception, the value of Bitcoin has soared because enough people have decided that it does in fact have value. It can be argued that on the day that Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto launched his invention, Bitcoin had no value. It wasn't until the world began to adopt the platform and individuals converted their fiat currencies into Bitcoin that it really had any value. Similarly, XRP had no real value on the day that it was launched, yet today it enjoys a market cap of roughly $37 billion because people & businesses have come together and decided that is what it's currently worth. The idea of creating the digital asset XRP, which initially had no value, and then convincing people to give it value by investing money in it to solve a liquidity problem, is incredible. The fact that Ripple is making this idea a reality is even more incredible. Ripple came along with the right solutions at the right time, and they started marching down this path before most people had ever heard of Bitcoin or blockchain technology. Nothing like this has ever been attempted before. While Ripple's plan may sound pretty wild to most, I believe they have a real shot at making their vision a reality. Deeply Misguided Competitors Let's take a moment to consider the entities that are competing with Ripple. Examining all competitors would be outside the scope of this blog, but suffice it to say most are banks and financial institutions. Their technology solutions (I use the term "solutions" loosely) have two primary components. They utilize blockchain or familial technology for payments, and bank coins for liquidity. Component 1: For comparison's sake you can think of their blockchain or familial technology for payments as being equivalent in concept to Ripple's xCurrent. That's an oversimplification, but it works for explanatory purposes. Component 2: The aforementioned bank coin. The term "bank coin" can be broadly used to define a digital asset created and used by a bank, or alliance of banks, which is intended to solve the same liquidity problem XRP was designed to solve. Bank coins all employ the same general strategy, have the same market barriers, and the same tremendous shortcomings. During the summer of 2016, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Santander and BNY Mellon announced their own bank coin. They call it the "utility settlement coin" which is a digital asset intended to solve the liquidity problem that XRP also seeks to solve. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse promptly wrote an article citing the development of this bank coin as "deeply misguided." He was quick to point out a glaringly obvious problem is that a bank coin can only efficiently settle between the banks that issued it. A quote from Brad Garlinghouse's article referencing two possible outcomes: Given that Brad's second scenario is already happening with the advent of Citibank's Citicoin and Goldman Sachs' SETLcoin, it's easy to see how pursuing the bank coin approach will only serve to further fragment an already fractured banking system. Banks with competing bank coins would need to make new markets in order to conduct business with one another. Does that sounds like a global solution to you? I don't think so either. No level of bank coin interoperability could ever work as seamlessly as a globally adopted XRP. As I previously mentioned, XRP is only used as a source of liquidity, not as a source meant for payments. This means that banks have a few choices when it comes to adopting blockchain, or familial technology, and digital assets: Utilize Ripple's xCurrent for payments & XRP for liquidity. Create their own blockchain or familial technology for payments and use XRP for liquidity. Create their own blockchain or familial technology for payments and create their own centralized digital asset for liquidity. A primary reason that XRP is attractive as a liquidity solution is that people and businesses have invested in it, and as such it has actual value. Any bank coin, upon inception, has no value. Bank coins are controlled by the banks that own them; they are not traded on open cryptocurrency exchanges. So, how can a bank coin with no actual value be used to solve a liquidity problem? The unfortunate answer is that it must be backed by multiple fiat currencies in order to have value. Mr. Garlinghouse points out the problem with this in referencing the utility settlement coin, which is a prime example: Which brings me to my next point. Decentralization is Key Bank coins are centralized systems which means that the owner of each individual system will ultimately enjoy the most benefits. The owners of each bank coin will fight against each other to be the dominant competitor in the marketplace. As written in a Recent "Ripple Insights" article by Richard Crook, decentralized systems offer these desirable attributes: Beyond these facts, I believe it's likely that XRP will ultimately be adopted on a global scale because it levels the playing field. Consider the fact that smaller banks have it rough when conducting cross-border money transactions for their customers. Small banks don't have the large capital reserves that bigger banks do, and as a result they can't afford to pre-fund nostro accounts all over the world. Instead they pay bigger banks outrageous fees to tap into their liquidity, and these fees are then passed along to the customers of the smaller banks. Doesn't that sound a bit upside down to you? The smaller banks are literally giving their money to larger competitors. XRP is decentralized so everyone's interests are in play. No one owns the ledger. First Mover's Advantage It's no stretch to say that Ripple is light-years ahead of competitors. Ripple is the only company in the world with production ready enterprise solutions for banks, while competitors are still designing or trialing their products. While some banks will continue to fight for their own personal dominance by developing bank coins, not all will resist the future. Consider that Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO of SBI Holdings, has publicly stated that he strongly believes XRP will become the global standard in digital currencies. In May of 2016 SBI Holdings launched SBI Ripple Asia, a consortium over over 60 banks which includes the top bank in Japan. They began using Ripple technology for both domestic and cross-border payments. Mr. Kitao stated recently that they are increasingly interested in using XRP for payments. The Bank of England is currently a customer of Ripple. Royal Bank of Scotland embraces decentralized ledger systems and supports what Ripple is doing. On February 7th this year Brad Garlinghouse publicly stated that a yet announced central bank is also working with Ripple. Compare the first mover's advantage XRP has and the fact that it's a truly global solution against bank coins coming late to the party and being closed systems. There is no comparison. Crypto Competition There is one other company competing in the cryptocurrency realm, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention them. I'm speaking of the non-profit entity Stellar Development Foundation which created a copycat cryptocurrency called XLM. Their cryptocurrency is a fork of the XRP ledger, and as such it shares a lot of code and attributes. Is Stellar and XLM a threat to Ripple and XRP? At present, not really. Stellar has a vastly different business plan than Ripple and is seeking out a different customer. Ripple is positioning XRP as a global solution for liquidity while the mission of Stellar is to utilize XLM in countries such as Nigeria where the average citizen doesn't have a bank account. Even if the technology is similar they aren't a great threat to each other right now. Once XRP becomes the standard source for global liquidity there is no reason that XLM ever could, or would, take that position away from XRP. Unique Approach Why is no other business trying to position a decentralized digital asset as a global liquidity solution? All of the banks that are developing their own blockchain technology to improve payments and liquidity are doing so out of self interest. And that's fine; banks are businesses and should do what they believe is in their best interest. They don't feel incentivized to create a global payment system. Instead they believe that a closed system they control would be most profitable. Of course, if XRP becomes extremely dominate, banks in closed systems will be less desirable by customers that do cross-border money transactions. This could negatively impact their market share. For now though, banks will fight within the marketplace to retain as much power as they can. Conceptually, what Ripple is doing to position XRP is such a radical concept that it's not hard for me to accept that no one else is taking the same approach. It would be an impossible task to successfully launch a new decentralized digital asset in competition with XRP at this stage in the game. Ripple has been at this for 6 years, and if XRP really does become the standard I wouldn't be surprised to see it stay that way for decades or longer. Only new technology that is equally disruptive as blockchain would ever have a chance at changing the industry to this degree. Technology like that only comes along every once in a great while. There are currently over 100 banks using xCurrent, so it's safe to say that Ripple is succeeding at implementing their plan. Ripple's software that utilizes XRP is called xRapid and was launched in late summer of 2017. Given the newness of the technology and the fact that sales pipelines take time to develop, only several xRapid customers have been announced by Ripple to date. I think that you should expect a lot more to come in 2018 and beyond. Remember that every Ripple customer that uses xCurrent is a potential xRapid customer. The bottom line is that if you're not competing against XRP with a globally oriented, decentralized digital asset, then you're not really competing. DISCLAIMER: I am not a financial adviser. None of what has been written here should be considered financial advice; it is not. Do your own research before investing in any digital asset, and understand that investing in any cryptocurrency is inherently risky. If you do, you need to be prepared to lose your entire investment. Associated Links: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/case-against-bankcoin-brad-garlinghouse/ https://www.coindesk.com/hsbc-barclays-join-utility-settlement-coin-as-bank-blockchain-test-enters-final-phase/ http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/01/22/18/visa-unionbank-launch-blockchain-payment-system https://investor.visa.com/news/news-details/2016/Visa-Introduces-International-B2B-Payment-Solution-Built-on-Chains-Blockchain-Technology/default.aspx https://ripple.com/files/xrp_cost_model_paper.pdf https://ripple.com/insights/blockchain-connect-fireside-chat-ripple-ceo-speaks-about-ripple-solutions-for-global-payments/ https://www.ft.com/content/1a962c16-6952-11e6-ae5b-a7cc5dd5a28c?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_pulse_read%3BRjXuqMSpQaG4pAciw%2BC7kA%3D%3D https://ripple.com/insights/the-case-for-more-decentralization/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1376&v=kyWZzgZN3wo http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/29/investing/argentina-peso/index.html https://ripple.com/insights/sbi-holdings-views-on-blockchain-and-xrp-an-interview-with-yoshitaka-kitao/

I know a bit about XLM, and how it is similar to XRP, even build upon the same rails. Also know about McCaleb. But what is the general thuoght about XLM and Stellar here? On one side you would expect that as it is so similar to XRP a lot of credibility would be attributed to it. Also the market approach is fundamentaly different as Stellar is a non-profit organisation. Please let me know your thoughts on this.

I am trying to understand the difference between XRP and XLM. Can someone explains if even they should be qualified as competitors? Thank you

https://hackernoon.com/why-stellar-could-be-the-next-big-ico-platform-f48fc3cb9a6c I just came across this website about Stellar as a possible new ico platform. Does anyone here now if Stellar has any additional functionality over XRP on this subject?

I feel that news is coming from stellar regarding a new major partnership is becoming imminent. I am tempted to put a majority of my investment in xlm for the short term. The new validators, past IBM partnerships with visa, and such a cheap price, I am very hopeful for the coming months. Thoughts?

Hi From your experience can you list the best user friendly exchange platforms listing several main altcoins on the market. By user friendly i mean lowest fees (for deposits and withdrawals) Thank you.

What is going on with the fintech conference in Singapore? I saw that Ripple as well as stellar is there, are they competing?

Hey Team, this AMA on Reddit went down a few hours ago and I noticed that it hasn't been posted here, yet. Quite a bit of info with regards to the IBM/Stellar partnership and future prospects. I have currently only briefly read over the questions and comments and I expect the team at Ripple HQ have read the information more thoroughly. As per all Reddit AMA's the threads can be a little bit hard to decipher, IMO. I thought that it would be appreciated being posted here and expect that the more advanced members of the forum would get something out of the information and be able to summarize a bit more succinctly for the group.

I am a college student and just beginning my investing career. I have bought both stellar lumens and xrp, but I am starting to think xrp has better potential for growth. Should I sell my xlm and reinvest the money in ripple? Any thoughts?

Which validator is faster, Ripple or Stellar? This is the only thing I've found. https://galactictalk.org/d/279-effectively-run-your-stellar-validator-node-performance-tips https://xrpcharts.ripple.com/#/validators

Opened an account over 1 week ago on Bittrex bittrex.com. I have put all my information, sent in my ID and selfie photo. Set up Google Authentication. I can transfer BTC and XRP in but I can't withdraw anything until they do whats called Enhanced Verification. Everything is stuck in Bittrex and can't withdraw anything. Does anyone have any info on what they are doing with my information? Are they calling the IRS? What is the timeline to get Enchanced Verification to withdraw? I'm about ready to drive to Las Vegas where there corporate HQ is located to get some answers. Starting to get mad as hell at them! Other Exchanges I have been verified and can do withdraws or whatever I need to do.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/17/this-family-bet-it-all-on-bitcoin.html