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But ripple (xrp) does. It may only be a slim chance, but it is real. It could be the first currency (like the euro, yen, swiss franc, etc.) backed by a private company. But unlike the sovereign currencies, xrp is totally transparent. No cooking the books like the banks have been caught doing with the LIBOR rates.

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I don't know if Ripple will truly become a currency like USD. But I think it will be adopted by companies as a way to facilitate easier movement of government-backed currencies, which will give it a value all its own. So perhaps more of a happy medium.

Cooking the books with libor? What does cooking the books mean?

Bankers colluding to keep the LIBOR rates fixed at preferential values.

The LIBOR rate is in theory merely an indicator of the average of interest rates estimated by the leading banks in London, that they would charge to borrow from other banks. In practice, this rate has significant impacts downstream, since it affects many other loan / savings accounts / etc. rates. So the fact that this rate was manipulated, not a true reflection, ended up being A Very Big Deal. An article about it from the Economist: http://www.economist.com/node/21558281

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