So the consensus is that investing in xrp is a bad idea - then don't.
It has nothing to do with using ripple - you just need 300xrp to make hundreds of thousands of transactions in whatever currency you choose, including bitcoin. You just need to trust the gateway you use.
xrp is a bad investment by design. you only need a trivial amount of xrp to use ripple.
You don't need to invest in xrp to use ripple.
This doesn't change the fact that Ripple is nothing more than a vehicle to make the founders millions of dollars.
How? xrp are clearly worthless, so how will they become millionaires?
XRP are worthless, yet the stated purpose of them is as an anti-spam measure. For them to work as an anti-spam measure, by definition, they must have value. So which is it? Are they worthless or are they an anti-spam measure?
Give me your ripple address and I'll send 300 for free - enough for a lifetime of use. It's a waste of my time but worth it to make a point.
I understand that at this point in time 300 XRP is essentially worthless, just like 10,000 BTC was worth 2 pizzas in 2010. But for XRP to fulfill it's intended purpose, it must have value. The founders know this, and that is why they kept 20 billion XRP.
Tell me, why would they keep the 20 billion XRP if it was worthless? It's worthless, just give it all away! They can just keep 300 XRP for themselves, because that's all they need to start an account. Oh yeah, but then they can't cash in on it and make millions of dollars.
They kept it so that you would complain. They kept it to make it worthless - you've already decided clearly it's a bad investment, and you are right. Why make them rich? It's worthless.