Ripple over Bitcoin: The Stanford Lecture Incident Explained

 A Stanford University student has highlighted a possible conflict of  interest, alleging that Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Dr. Susan Athey may have used her position at the university to plug the Ripple protocol and associated cryptocurrency (XRP) - while also sitting on Ripple Labs’ Board of Directors since 2014. 

Bitcoin Bashing

The claim is a complex one and needs unpacking. The student, Conner Brown, came out publically about a week ago with  his claims that Athey inaccurately described the Bitcoin protocol and  network, and based on that inaccurate description made unfounded  criticisms of Bitcoin during a lecture. The lecture seems to have taken  place more than a month ago, according to Brown's comments. Brown, who has written an open letter to Stanford regarding the incident, outlined arguments against what he sees as false claims. To wit, he says Brown inaccurately described Bitcoin’s consensus  protocol; overstated the problem of Bitcoin mining centralization;  overstated the threat of a 51% attack on the Bitcoin network; and  overstated the Bitcoin network’s environmental impact. The upshot of Brown’s criticisms, however, are not just that Bitcoin  was misrepresented in the lecture hall of an elite US university - but  that Ripple was presented to students as a solution to Bitcoin’s  (misrepresented and poorly framed) problems. 

Takeaways

It seems clear enough that a portion of Dr. Athey’s lecture was  indeed dedicated to plugging Ripple and its xRapid technology. Athey  seems to excuse this behavior as legitimate, citing her large and  obvious disclaimer at the beginning of her lecture that she was  affiliated with the blockchain company. Whether or not her choice of  forum for this purpose was in fact legitimate, is open to debate and  opinion. And although Athey’s class slides do not unduly defame Bitcoin and  its tech, if Brown is to be believed about the verbal statements made  during the lecture, Athey’s criticisms of Bitcoin do seem specious and  half-baked.