Ripple Speculation

Ripple Speculation

-They feel that it's not decentralized
-They think that the network will be permission
-They don't want to provide identifying personal information (KYC/AML)
-It was all premined (therefore it's a scam)
-The founders originally allocated 20% of the coins (20 billion) to themselves (therefore it's a scam)
-Ripple is now focused on providing enterprise software to banks (i.e. Ripple is in bed with "the man")
-Ripple and XRP are not one in the same. Ripple can do quite well as a company without XRP appreciating in value. Ripple is a software company that owns lots of XRP that may or may not be used as a store of value within the Ripple network but you need very little XRP to settle funds in fiat on the Ripple network which could reduce the demand for XRP.

Some other people don't like it because it doesn't have as sexy a use case as Ether, MaidSafe, StorJ, or SiaCoin. Ripple basically facilitates cross-border remittances and other payments. It allows for settlement within 3.5s. In contrast, Ether is to be used to enter into smart contracts (business contracts that are instantiated entirely in computer code). People are fantasizing about all the ways in which you can disintermediate middlemen that take a cut of the payment as the contract guarantor. For example, imagine a smart contract was utilized for ride sharing, you could get rid of Uber (theoretically). Some people that are betting on Ethereum believe it will be as revolutionary as bitcoin.

Ripple doesn't feel that revolutionary.

The Ripple enthusiasts have a more sober/less emotional take (and pay attention to the news):

-financial systems have been built on trust since the dawn of time, maybe it's for a reason (i.e. partially centralized/permissioned isn't so bad)
-Ripple is attacking a real use case rather than a theoretical one
-Ripple enthusiasts have come to accept the fact that KYC/AML will be a necessary evil for any enterprise/broadly adopted digital asset
-Ripple is the only enterprise software out of the R&D phase that is being used by real companies to solve real problems
--Who's using Ripple (that we know of?): Standard Chartered, Royal Bank of Canada, CBW, Santander, and many more (http://www.xrpchat.com/topic/38-list-of-ripples-current-partners-and-rumors/#comment-38)
-Regularly Moms and Pops will likely soon be able to buy and trade XRP assets just as easily as they buy and trade stocks (SBI Holdings)
-XRP looks like it will be second truly derivatized and insured digital asset in the world (CryptoFacilities)
-If XRP gains liquidity with all currencies it will be one of the most stable stores of value out there (sheltered from inflationary/deflationary activity)
-Microsoft is on board
-Waiting days to settle funds is frustrating and expensive, it affects every niche of the financial system.

Given the number of banks signing on with Ripple they've got a good head start and network effects may give it a defensible marketshare. Plus, there's so much XRP in circulation with few entry points tot he network, that the price is still pretty low.