It seems like people are talking about the impending Ripple IPO. It is not easy to avoid getting caught up in the hype, with comparisons to Amazon in 1997. It's as tempting as it might get to actually believe Ripple is going to take flight in much the same way, but I am less convinced. There's no denying they've done some amazing work with cross-border payments, and the recent court victory against the SEC. But there's one silent risk that everybody seems to avoid discussing, the overdependence of Ripple on XRP.
Think about it, their entire system is dependent on the success of one single digital asset. Yes, they've got XRP flying faster and cheaper than traditional systems like SWIFT, but what if the token tanks?
We all have watched amazing tech fall to its knees due to a weak link, and XRP may very well be that Achilles heel in the Ripple platform. The moment XRP loses steam or hits some bumps in the road, as far as future regulation goes, it can actually create a bottleneck on the entire platform.
And while the concept of Ripple "going public" does have a certain 'legitimization' feel to it, I wonder whether it's somewhat premature to break open the champagne.
Amazon had a clear runway, expand e-commerce. Ripple? They're stuck navigating a far murkier road, financial regulations are brutal, and their path littered with more legal landmines than Amazon ever faced in my opinion.
