For sure it is not a crypto currency and the majority of investors are not getting this. I cannot understand people that are supporting such projects because the idea of crypto currencies is to make the world decentralised.
Actually most of the features and the structure of ripple is based on the cryptocurrency. It is using the blockchain technology that is why people think it as the cryptocurrency. In actual we can call it as a digital currency as the word crypto mean hidden and anonymous which the XRP is not.