Andrew it is an interesting and good suggestion but I think that when they "run out of ripples" the price will start floating and if it just so happens their "friends" bought 50 billion then xrp becomes a manipulable and valuable asset. I think your suggestion illuminates the unsustainable nature of this network security model.

Creating an enormous amount of virtual currency with the claim that it will last for a very long time is both irresponsible from a security pov, inefficient from a mathematical pov, and unsound from an economic pov. Throwing money at a problem, or just using very large numbers to solve a problem always leave a glitch in the matrix, and we all know what happens to the matrix.

XRP can and should be their own currency, based on synchronization, proof of work, or any other digital currency model. Everyone should have the right to trade in their own choice of currency; but forcing the community to use specifically XRP as a means of transaction capability is wrong.

The central distribution model is too flawed despite the creators good intentions. The entirety of XRP reserves needs to be democratized, or the txn mechanism needs to be replaced with a non currency dependent approach.

I will be direct and ask:

Why do you need the 50 billion XRP reserves?
Is this your intended revenue model?
Perhaps you can share your business model with us?

I want to help make ripple a success, but only if it matches bitcoin's standard of transparency and fairness.