Some time ago I bought some XRP (Ripple coins) based on some news that banks are planning to use it. Apparently this is not true. Banks are using some other products provided by Ripple, the company behind XRP, not the coin itself:
While XRP investors might be charmed by the thought of holding a cryptocurrency that one day a large swath of the banking system may use, the vast majority of Ripple's banking clients are using the company's xCurrent product – a glorified messaging platform.
Another disturbing fact about XRP is that nodes in the network are all controlled by Ripple, which makes it less "decentralized".
Ripple relies on a Unique Node List (UNL) – currently encompassing five core validators all run by Ripple – when matters of consensus need to be determined.
Anyone can download the XRP ledger package and become a validator and start broadcasting immediately, but getting everyone else to listen to you is a second point
If you want to read more check "$100 Billion Controversy: XRP's Surge Raises Hard Questions for Ripple" on CoinDesk (the source of all the quotes above). I didn't check this against other sources yet.
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