Thank you very much. The first reason is that I program exclusively using functional programming. That said, the choice is somehow limited. I have very good experiences with Elixir. Statelessly streaming uncritical data to a client is a perfect fit for Erlang's/Elixir's "let-it-fail"-paradigm. If the web-socket crashes server-side just let the supervisor respawn it one-for-one, there is no permanent state. I hope that makes sense.
Creator here. I created this app to visualize what is going on on the Ripple Network (kind of a blockchain, called 'ledger') in real-time. The application is written in Elixir/JavaScript, the client uses SVG (d3.js) and mostly css-transitions for visualization. Data is fetched from a public ripple validator using web-sockets, pre-processed server-side and finally broadcasted to the clients.
What you see, are validated transactions (TXs) between addresses. A TX always contains at least one address but can contain multiple (e.g. payment targets, but many more). These TX are not necessarily connected the XRP crypto-asset. The Ripple Network can be used without an asset as a messaging platform.
Check it out and enjoy. You can btw click on nodes to explore them. If you have any feedback or suggestions feel free to comment!
Not a single price of the top 100 crypto-currencies is reflecting their value. They are all over-priced by magnitudes and still "investors" insist it is not a bubble.
Ripple is not necessarily targeted at end consumers. In some cases you may notice lower fees and faster transactions, however, they are targeting banks and payment providers.
Unlike other fraudelend coin startups, Ripple made its self subject to regulations. They cannot simply put all their XRP onto the open market. The 55bn locked in escrow are meant to be sold to institutions partnering Ripple, as other comments have already stated. Regulations aren't a bad thing. They are mandatory and prevent us from being scammed in many cases.
The only thing you can blame Ripple for is the insane amount of ripples their founders are holding.