Ripple Labs CTO Warns of Blockchain Dystopia

Following the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's (CBA) move to partner with Ripple Labs in using blockchain technology for its offshore transactions, other banks in Australia joined the bandwagon. Westpac and Australia New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) are also working to test payment technology offered by Ripple Labs. According to Westpac, it is in the early stages of a proof of concept using the Ripple network in which staff are making low-value international payments to two other countries. ANZ is still in the middle of constructive conversations with Ripple and is in the process of....

Longtime blockchain developer, enthusiast and Ripple executive has warned in a new essay that blockchains could bring about a dystopia. Ripple Exec Cites Failures of Social Consensus Model. Stefan Thomas, Chief Technology Officer at Ripple Labs, a leading private and public ledger company, wrote an essay titled “The Subtle Tyranny of Blockchain.” The blockchain industry, he writes, foresees a blockchain revolution across a swathe of industries like finance, international trade and health care. However, Thomas pens, “blockchains are a pain to work with.” “Harmony and consensus are valuable.....

Ripple (formerly Ripple Labs) has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Kefi Labs, the makers of a social photo-sharing app called Ripple. In documents filed on 2nd October in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the San Francisco startup stated it is seeking $2m in damages against Kefi Labs for infringement, unfair competition and cybersquatting, funds it suggests represent three times of the value of the actual damages sustained. The 13-page lawsuit goes on to allege Kefi Labs and its employees used domain names such as getripple.io that were....

Ripple Labs is on the lookout for developers and entrepreneurs alike this week. The Ripple Accelerator, an incubator designed to help companies using the Ripple protocol, opened in San Francisco. And Ripple Labs, the firm behind the open-source digital payment protocol, has launched a developer offensive to encourage third-party apps and services to support it. The Ripple Accelerator is designed as an independent entity, not influenced by Ripple Labs. It is operated by CrossCoin Ventures, a separate group of four partners, two of whom run the Menlo Incubator. However, it is located in the....

Ripple Labs CEO Chris Larsen sent the digital currency community buzzing this week when he tweeted that Ripple Labs is working with Western Union on real-time payment settlements. Many view such a partnership as a sign of Western Union's willingness to become more active in the digital currency space. The partnership also signifies a growing recognition of Ripple Labs' open protocol that lets people send digital currency across the Internet-based distributed network. Ripple Labs signed an agreement in the fall with two U. S. banks (Cross River Bank in New Jersey and Kansas-based CBW Bank)....