Monetary Value: Why Ripple is Worthless
The Cryptocurrency Revolution is the reestablishment of Currency (the medium of exchange between goods and services) as ASSET.
(For a full understanding, see https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@cryptonomics/the-monetary-cycle-and-the-rise-of-cryptocurrencies)
What is "Money"? Money is the medium, the placeholder, between goods and services. In economics, the interplay between Money and Goods is demonstrated in this formula: MV = PY.
(M) = Monetary Supply
(V) = Velocity - how often Monetary Supply circulates annually
(P) = Price
(Y) = Output.
(1) Money only has value to buy THINGS. Money is not valuable in itself. Money without things to buy is worthless. Money today and always (even Gold) is backed by production (Y) or "Output. If there's a famine and you're the only guy with loaves of bread, what's the value of Gold - worth very little, or even worthless. An ounce of Gold might buy a loaf of bread... or you might starve to death while the guy with the bread lives on.
(2) Money only has value if it's being HELD to BUY things later.
(3) Money has value because it is held IN BETWEEN you selling your good / service for it, and you buying other goods / services with it. This is expressed with (V) - Velocity. If money isn't held for very long (as it is held for only 24 hours or so in periods of the greatest Hyperinflations in History) then it is WORTHLESS.
Let me say that again, in case you missed it:
IF MONEY ISN'T HELD FOR VERY LONG (ITS VELOCITY IS ASTRONOMICAL) THEN ITS VALUE IS EXPONENTIALLY WORTHLESS RELATIVE TO VELOCITY.
What's the value of a Currency held for 1 second? So worthless that it's mind-numbing. Remember, in the greatest hyperinflations in history, monetary velocity was only 24 hours...
How, then, does a "Cryptocurrency" - RIPPLE, STELLAR LUMENS, etc being held for 1 second, even if used in a thousand transactions, make it worth anything?
It is WORTHLESS.
Now here is when people will argue that if a miniscule amount of the currency is destroyed in its use, that that matters. (1) It doesn't. If it's only used as a microsecond transactional medium, its value is in its price being LOW ENOUGH to be worth using. It's price is in essence a "Transaction Fee". In other words, its very USE CASE is inverse to its VALUE, and it's VALUE is in it having a LOW PRICE (this is also true of IOTA, but that's another article :) ) (2) The actual burning of XRP even in replacing a significant portion of Swift functions, is miniscule... and then again, price would need to go DOWN for it to not be replaced by another XRP Clone, which would be easily done.
Summary:
(1) Price is relative to Velocity - the use case of Ripple (XRP) Token and clones claims its velocity is so enormous as to make it worthless Monetarily.
(2) Price is relative to Use. When it's very existential "Use Case" requires a low price, it's value is capped.
Economics Matter. Follow me for more thought provoking, revolutionary economic analysis in Cryptocurrencies.