About Ripple (XRP)
Ripple is a blockchain-based digital payment settlement system and crypto exchange network that can process global transactions. Ripple is the company behind the XRP Ledger.
The XRP Ledger is a software powered by its own native digital currency called XRP. The coin was developed in 2011 by a couple of developers namely, Arthur Britto, David Schwartz, and Jed McCaleb. The founders then went ahead to launch Ripple under the name OpenCoin in September 2012 together with Chris Larsen, who joined as a co-founder and CEO. In 2013, the company rebranded to Ripple Labs. This firm would also end up being changed to Ripple, in late 2015. Ripple is backed by globally recognized strategic investors and venture capital firms such as Accenture, Andreessen Horowitz, BCG Digital Ventures, and Standard Chartered, among others.
Ripple uses its native token to help traditional financial institutions migrate their transactions from centralized databases controlled by financial authorities to an open infrastructure. Unlike Ethereum, which has an infinite supply, XRP has a maximum supply of 100 billion coins. As of this writing, there is 49.88 billion XRP in circulation.
Price history
In 2012, Ripple’s initial founders pre-mined 100 billion XRP tokens, the coin’s maximum supply. The founders then issued the Ripple project with 80 billion tokens to fund future developments and operations.
In 2017, Ripple transferred 55 billion tokens out of the 80 billion XRP into an escrow account. As of September 4, 2022, the escrow accounts held 44.6 billion XRP. Tokens in escrow don’t make up the circulating supply.
Historically, Ripple's price** **experienced two significant price jumps, both of which occurred three and a half years after its launch. In December 2013, Ripple’s price soared nearly 11-fold in just 15 days. A year later, the price increased by 454% within 33 days. After both jumps, XRP’s price dipped and stayed under $0.01 until early 2017, when the crypto market began to gain momentum. The Ripple ATH occurred about a year later, on January 6, 2018, when the XRP price rose to $3.40 from under one cent. However, this was short-lived, and a few months later, the Ripple price dipped to $0.10 until April 2021, when it rose to $1.98, thanks to the bull market, before dropping to less than $1. Below is the all-time Ripple price chart.
*Source: *CoinMarketCap
In the prevailing 2022 crypto bear market, Ripple’s price is plummeting as the overall crypto market has been crashing.
How does Ripple (XRP) work?
XRP operations are powered by the XRP Ledger – an open-source distributed ledger that supports real-time financial transactions. Although the XRP Ledger borrows heavily from Bitcoin’s ledger, it’s not exactly a copy and paste of the Bitcoin blockchain. For starters, the XRP Ledger can be used to send and receive virtual currencies. It uses XRP as a bridge between hard-to-match fiat currencies.
Unlike most cryptocurrencies, the XRP Ledger does neither use the Proof-of-work nor Proof-of-stake consensus mechanisms. Instead, it utilizes a federated consensus algorithm, where network participants are known and trusted by other participants but aren’t rewarded to secure the network. Once validators reach consensus, a new immutable ledger version is created — instead of a block — and then validated.
The ledger isn’t controlled, operated, or owned by Ripple. Instead, its development is in the hands of the Ripple community and is championed by entities such as RippleX, XRP Ledger Foundation, or XRPL.org.
FAQs
Does XRP have a future?
As a bridging cryptocurrency, XRP makes it easy for users to settle cross-border payments in less than five seconds compared to traditional financial organizations that process the same in four to five business days. Therefore, it appears to have positioned itself as one of the digital currencies that will propel the future of finance. Also, the crypto asset was among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap at the time of writing, signifying user demand. As long as cross-border payments remain a thing - and it looks like this is highly likely in the foreseeable future - XRP will probably keep on profiting from this trend.
Is XRP coin a good investment?
Besides the obvious fact that cryptocurrencies are highly risky and very volatile, XRP could appear like a gamble that’s not for the faint-hearted because of its price history and the possibility that XRP could be deemed a security. The outcome of the latter hinges on the pending SEC decision, which is expected to have a bearing. However, Ripple supporters would expect Ripple’s price to increase, and thus, it may be an okay investment opportunity. Readers should do their own research (also referred to as DYOR in the space), to make sure they know what they are investing in.
Can XRP reach $1?
It’s difficult to say whether XRP can reach $1. The general feeling by most analysts is split, with some crypto experts saying that it will while others believe it won’t, particularly due to the ongoing Securities Exchange Commission’s lawsuit against Ripple.
Popular criticisms
Although Ripple has achieved much success by integrating itself into the wider financial world of banks — a feat that pretty much no other digital currency has achieved — some still believe that it has major security weaknesses. This stems from its network’s openness which has created room for vulnerability. However, there is yet to be a single attack on Ripple that has come to light. Another criticism is XRP’s premine, which makes the coin’s supply heavily concentrated when it comes to distribution among token holders. To this day, the early founders likely maintain a significant stake in the project.
Comparisons to other projects
Ripple’s XRP Ledger may borrow from Bitcoin, but it certainly is very different and has found a way to establish itself in the finance world. It’s hard to compare Ripple to other projects as it does not fully function the same way other cryptocurrencies do.
Development timelines
In 2019, Ripple merged three of its independent products – xCurrent, xRapid, and xVia to form RippleNet, a global cross-border payments network for financial institutions. Prior to 2019, xCurrent operated as a real-time settlement system, xRapid was a liquidity product while xVia functioned as a payment API.
