ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, NJ – Jed McCaleb, co-founder of Ripple and Stellar and developer of Mt. Goix bitcoin exchange, has just expressed his thoughts regarding the need of blockchain technology, including cryptocurrency, for a decentralized network, if people are to expect to survive in the long term.
McCaleb said in an interview with CNBC that using a centralized system will make the cryptocurrency no different than pay services such as PayPal and SWIFT.
The primary objective of decentralization is to set up a system comparable to the internet, which means anyone can access it without restrictions. With that, there should not be an entity that can impose charges on the service. McCaleb believes that assimilating a decentralized network is the only way for cryptocurrency to grow and spread.
Even though Jed McCaleb co-founded Ripple, the third largest digital currency as regards market cap, the developer had long separated from the company to form a new one – Stellar.
Apparently, the reason McCaleb decided to leave Ripple was due to opposite beliefs on how the company should be run. While Ripple insists on running majority of the nodes themselves, according to him it is an issue for the people. The perspective of McCaleb is that it’s hard to run those nodes outside the Ripple Labs.
McCaleb mentioned that the only decentralized network he has seen to be successful is the internet. With that, his chief technology officer said this is the reason in Stellar their primary agenda is to create a network comparable to the internet protocol.
On that note, McCaleb entered the scene once again saying that one of the keys to Stellar’s success is that it does not limit the investors to just some people. Evidently, what Stellar employees all have in common is that they all work toward spreading the lumens evenly across communities.
Lumens, which is Stellar’s digital currency, were included in the top performing digital currencies last year, but upon the opening of this year, lumens were among those that met a decline.
On that note, Jed McCaleb said that the decentralization of blockchain technology would change how banking operates shortly.