Given its early emphasis on distributed ledgers in what was then widely described as the digital currency ecosystem, Ripple has long held a unique market position in the industry. In the age of "blockchain", the startup remains one of the few holdouts to describe its offerings as "distributed financial technology".
Since it was founded in 2012 , Ripple has garnered a track record of success with major banks, which have viewed bitcoin and its largely anonymous transaction validators ( miners ), as a potential liability. Ripple and its permissioned network, in turn, emerged as a ‘safe’ alternative for incumbent firms, one that wasn’t colored by high levels of more negative press.
The positive market momentum would help the startup raise $38.6m from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, CME Group and Santander InnoVentures.
Michael O’Loughlin, who leads blockchain development at IT consulting firm and Ripple partner CGI Group, told CoinDesk that he believes the startup helped clean up the technology’s reputation at a key early stage.
"Ripple has been there, from what we consider to be the start, the point where banks became aware, and Ripple was seen as a friendly," he said.
However, there may be signs that Ripple is now suffering from a similar change in perspective, and that it may be falling out of favor in its target market as understanding of blockchain technology advances in mainstream finance.
At the end of 2015, financial incumbents began seeking to build private blockchain solutions and consortium models to further investigate the technology behind Ripple’s offerings. In the process, some believe concerns are being raised about Ripple’s target market and whether it would continue to find value in the Ripple consensus ledger .
Gartner Research vice president Ray Valdes explained: "Certainly they were the early mover in this wave of trying to take bitcoin technology and make it […]
