Ripple is been surprisingly forthright.

The problem with it is that it has banksters all over it.
The other problem is that it is all premined. They control the inflation rate and the burn rate.

Ripple hasn't done anything shady, they ARE shady.

And the big thing is the SEC lawsuit. Claiming that they are a security.
However, the SEC is now saying, give us a bunch of XRP and we will drop the lawsuit. Even after Ripple had basically won.