The thing I do not understand about buying ripple is, what is the point of owning ripple?

The partners that Ripple is gaining are using it's technology but not its coin. The coin is also a centrally controlled currency just like the federal reserve and banking system that we tried to get away from.

So, I can't be assured of profits if Ripple continues to find success with banking partners (because the partners aren't going to adopt the currency / take supply off the market), and it's a centralized currency, and i'm pretty sure I can't use it anywhere to buy anything, so what's the point of owning the token?

And i'm not saying that like "oh, I can't use bitcoin in my grocery, why would I buy it." The fact is that my local grocery will eventually adopt bitcoin payments, but I don't think they will adopt ripple payments. I don't even think the Ripple team is working to gain merchant adoption, they seem to be focusing exclusively on banks using their technology.

Help me understand why I should own the currency