What is Ripple (XRP)?
Future of XRP Cryptocurrency and know how to buy XRP

#1 - Ripple: The Basics

Despite the emergence of cryptocurrencies, a lot of teething troubles with our financial systems remain. International payments are still slow and cumbersome, and the world, in general, isn’t warming up to compete with cryptocurrencies fast enough. This is of course because institutions aren’t picking up this new technology quickly. This is what Ripple intends to change with its XRP tokens.

What is XRP?

• Ripple is not only a cryptocurrency but also a payment network. The cryptocurrency is known as Ripple XRP, and its payment network is called RippleNet.
• XRP is the cryptocurrency used on this payment network for making cross-border transactions simple and fast. With Ripple XRP, every transaction will take only 4 seconds - far quicker than most other cryptocurrencies.

XRP Development

The protocol builder of Ripple, OpenCoin was founded by CTO Jed McCaleb and CEO Chris Laren. Both of them were into Bitcoin previously, much like all other developers in the company.

1. The XRP token was launched in January 2013.
2. In September of the same year, the company changed its name from OpenCoin to Ripple Labs.
3. In October 2015, Ripple Labs became ‘Ripple’.

#2 - What are the benefits of Ripple?

Technology

1. Unlike any other cryptocurrency, XRP is not based on conventional blockchain technology. Instead, the Ripple blockchain makes use of the concept of HashTree to summarize data into a single value. This value is then compared across its validating servers in order to provide consensus.
2. When someone wants to initiate a transaction on the Ripple network, they are expected to specify which gateway (institutions, or individuals) they are connected with to the recipient, or ripple account holder.
3. Validators on the network then receive these transaction details and vote on them based on their legality according to the rules of the network. Once a majority of the network’s node agree on the transaction, it is executed.
4. It is important to note that the XRP token itself is not used to send funds. Instead, the network simply works by generating transactions consisting of IOUs (document acknowledging debt/due payments). It is the execution of such transactions that use XRP tokens as fuel.
5. With every transaction, some amount of these XRP tokens get exhausted forever. So the amount of XRP tokens will consistently decrease as the network load increases.
6. XRP is different from other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. It is not mined the way other tokens are mined, instead, it was issued at the time of inception.
7. A total of 100 billion XRP tokens were issued by Ripple company.

Uses cases

Ripple cryptocurrency technology is rapidly being adopted by the banks due to its speed. Using XRP, banks can provide their clients with liquidity. This can be done in real time and on demand! It also eliminates the need of any pre-funding. It is also being rapidly adopted by several payment providers. They are using XRP in order to reach new markets. With XRP, they are able to reduce the time required for payment settlement and lower the foreign exchange costs. 

#3 - How to buy & store XRP

How to buy XRP? 

• Just like any other major cryptocurrency, the Ripple coin is available on all leading crypto exchanges. You can buy XRP tokens on Bittrex, OkEx, Cryptopia, and many more exchanges.
• Ripple purchases are possible via fiat, in addition to crypto pairings such as with BTC and ETH.

Using CoinSwitch to purchase XRP coins 

1. With support for major exchanges globally, CoinSwitch allows traders to compare prices for the Ripple coin at one place. You can then choose the best rate to make maximum profit and minimize your risk. On CoinSwitch, you can exchange cryptocurrencies for more than 45000 cryptocurrency pairs, XRP being one of them.
2. What’s more - with CoinSwitch, you do not rely on a separate wallet from the exchange to store your ZEC coins. Instead, all transactions happen to and from your own personal private wallets, the benefits of which we’ve spoken about here earlier.

How to store XRP?

Once you buy XRP tokens, you naturally need to find a safe place to store it. If you prefer storing coins in an online wallet, go for GateHub online Ripple wallet. Other options include the open-source and safe Toast wallet which hands over your private keys to you.

 There is an offline wallet available to store your Ripple coins too. We’re talking about the widely popularly Ledger - known for its security. The other popular hardware wallet, Trezor too supports XRP tokens.

#4 - What is the future of Ripple?

With a total market capitalization of $26 billion USD as of May 2018, and currently, Ripple XRP is the third largest cryptocurrency in the world. It has a maximum supply of 100,000,000,000 XRP tokens, with currently about 39,241,525,848 tokens in circulation.

 The price of an individual Ripple coin is $0.68 USD. This is after some significant correction the token witnessed in the first half of 2018, along with the rest of the cryptocurrency market. Prior to this, XRP had continued to see a massive rise in prices, exceeding 10x returns within a matter of months on repeated occasions. 

Also Read: Complete Analysis of Ripple | Live Ripple (XRP) Price Charts & Predictions

Price History 

#5 - How is Ripple different from other cryptocurrencies?

Ripple is fairly different from almost all the other cryptocurrencies we see traded in today’s times. A couple of the most obvious differences stand out:

• There’s no mining involved. All XRP tokens were premined.
• A large part of the coins are owned by the creator company - Ripple. Some argue that this is a centralized coin which may not be a good thing.
• Most importantly, XRP’s use case is unique - it’s trying to make international payments easier.

But wait, isn’t Bitcoin doing that too? Allowing us to transfer funds from one place to another easily?

Well yes, except that Bitcoin is finding it difficult to scale. Transactions are slow, and they’re expensive. This isn’t the case with XRP tokens - which allow transfer of funds within 4 seconds. 

More importantly, the Ripple coin seems to be targeted at institutional markets - making it easier for banks to process payments and exchange value. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies have generally focused more on the end users or consumers.

#6 - Should you buy XRP?

Apart from the ups and downs throughout its journey, Ripple’s XRP has emerged as one of the largest and popular cryptocurrencies in the world. When popular exchanges like CoinBase were about to add Ripple to the list, it saw another price surge. Many users continue to flock to XRP because of the psychological impact of the lower price of an individual Ripple coin, making it seem affordable to many. 

Caution

One unique feature is that the company itself owns most of the coins and there is no other way it can be mined. However, many may argue that this isn’t positive since it leads to concerns of centralization of power into one entity. To this, the Ripple developers have this to say:

“The Ripple network is an open network. No one, including Ripple Labs, can prevent others from using or building on the Ripple protocol as they desire. However, when Ripple Labs provides software, such as the Ripple Trade client, Ripples Labs may impose additional requirements for the use of the software. As such, Ripple Labs will require identification of Ripple Trade account holders.” 

Future Prospects

Keeping in mind the trends so far, Ripple has seen positive numbers at most of the times. In the first half of 2017, it saw almost 4000% rise in its price! 

1. Currently, it is listed on more than 30 crypto exchanges. However, it isn’t just about the price action or trades - Ripple may have a bright future because of its uniqueness in so many ways.
2. Ripple is highly focused on making the international payments easier - which is a market ripe for disruption, given that its run by legacy technology on the back of old banks. 
3. The company is working on technology which will enable it to process around 70,000 transactions per second, which is just incredible!

If Ripple fulfills its objectives and maintains its position in the market, would we soon see it becoming the largest cryptocurrency of the world?