Ripple is a US-based company that aims to provide a more efficient way to send cross-border payments in the financial industry. Ripple and XRP are often used interchangeably, but technically speaking, Ripple is the payments network, and XRP is a cryptocurrency that operates independently of Ripple.
A little bit more detail
Ripple is a technology that acts as a digital payment network for financial transactions. Ripple, the company, was founded in 2012, and its vision is to be the system that banks and financial institutions use to transfer money from country to country. XRP, the cryptocurrency, would be used by banks to transfer money. The sender bank would change one fiat currency to XRP, and the receiving bank would convert that XRP back to another fiat currency.
XRP is pre-mined, meaning that all of the available coins were created before it was launched. 100 billion coins, to be exact. This was done to ensure that there isn’t runaway inflation - that it stays independent of price fluctuation. Ripple has locked up their holdings in escrow, and will only release a certain amount of XRP into the market at regular intervals.
What’s the difference between Bitcoin and XRP?
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Bitcoin |
XRP |
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Created in 2009 |
Created in 2012 |
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Intended to be a decentralised digital currency to pay for goods and services |
Intended to be a quick and efficient method to transfer money, especially across borders |
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Has a total supply limit of 21 million coins which are continually mined by a decentralised network - the last Bitcoin will only be mined around the year 2140 |
Has a total supply of 100 billion coins which have already been pre-mined. Initially, 38 billion coins were made available to the public. Ripple holds the rest, and releases them to the public periodically |
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Transactions take an average of 10 minutes to complete |
Transactions take an average of five seconds to complete |
Tip
Keen to explore Ripple (XRP) a bit more? You can learn about Ripple (XRP) basics and get all the latest cryptocurrency news on Luno Discover.
Want to know how to buy, sell, send, receive your XRP? We’ve got answers in the following help articles:
This information is not intended to be nor does it constitute financial, tax, legal, investment or other advice; nor is it a call to trade. The information is intended as general market commentary for information purposes only. Before making any decision or taking any action regarding your finances, you should consult a qualified Financial Advisor.