While bitcoins have "innate" value in the form of exchange value (not so innate as it is actually fungible), the ripple is a new form of this without any exchanges that I know of.
I would not take a ripple as payment for services, without a corresponding contract that identified the sender as lendee, and terms for payment where they would accept the ripples back over time in exchange for the contract value.
In other words, we start by agreeing on the value of the ripples (you have plenty, and you send me some in lieu of full payment), and if I trade them away before you can repay me, you could think of it as your debt having been assumed by a third party. I would keep them until you paid me back instead, so I could send them back as a record of the debt being discharged.
Why one would want to do any of this instead of just writing a regular IOU is an exercise for the reader. I guess it's something like a 'mixing service.' They could have trade value one day.
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I think that is the idea.
While bitcoins have "innate" value in the form of exchange value (not so innate as it is actually fungible), the ripple is a new form of this without any exchanges that I know of.
I would not take a ripple as payment for services, without a corresponding contract that identified the sender as lendee, and terms for payment where they would accept the ripples back over time in exchange for the contract value.
In other words, we start by agreeing on the value of the ripples (you have plenty, and you send me some in lieu of full payment), and if I trade them away before you can repay me, you could think of it as your debt having been assumed by a third party. I would keep them until you paid me back instead, so I could send them back as a record of the debt being discharged.
Why one would want to do any of this instead of just writing a regular IOU is an exercise for the reader. I guess it's something like a 'mixing service.' They could have trade value one day.