Apparently, there are some very angry feelings between payment network startups Ripple and Stellar, and the New York Observer has published a 15,000 word article spilling all the juicy details.
Apparently, Ripple and Stellar were going out for quite some time. They were thought to be the cutest couple by all of their friends, and their families were sure an engagement was imminent, but then it turned out that Stellar was cheating on Ripple with a bitcoin mining operation all this time. Ripple discovered the sensual love letter hidden in a closet and decided to confront Stellar a week before their anniversary. Now, both companies aren’t speaking to each other. Ripple is angry at being cheated on, and Stellar says that Ripple doesn’t give it enough space…
…Okay, that’s not exactly how it went down, but the anger and bad blood between the two companies is undeniably real.
According to the publication, Jeb McCaleb, founder of both Ripple Labs and Stellar, as well as Mt. Gox (the company that will forever go down in history as the world’s largest bitcoin accident), had a long and personal relationship with Joyce Kim, the executive director of Stellar. Their activities together jeopardized McCaleb’s relationships with other senior executives and board members at Ripple Labs, which ultimately led to McCaleb’s exit from Ripple and his creation of Stellar.
According to the article’s description by author Michael Craig, the story sounds a lot like the digital currency edition of “The Godfather”. I guess Ripple can play Michael Corleone and Stellar can be Kay Adams:
“The interpersonal story of Stellar and Ripple Labs is emblematic of the turmoil roiling the entire industry… It has everything: sex, huge money, fraud, genius, betrayal, international intrigue and government raids.”
The entire article can be read here.
Images from Ripple Labs and Stellar