How is Ripple different from a LETS system?

A LETS system allows people to keep a single balance of their debts with the community as a whole. The problem is that any member of the community can grant credit on behalf of the entire community in order to receive payment. This puts people in the position of granting credit to those who are not necessarily going to repay, but still being able to claim payment on that debt from others in the community. The result is that the community currency slowly devalues and the system runs out of steam. Successful LETS systems avoid this with active centralized management to ensure that everyone does their part to make good on their debts – just like a bank with a friendly loan policy. Ripple avoids allowing participants to benefit from wrongly granting credit to those who won't repay, by keeping track of credit only between pairs of participants, and never with the nebulous "community as a whole". Anyone who grants credit that is not repaid is fully liable for that debt. It's as if you ...  more