In this article, we will analyse and explain what XRP is, why it was created, and how it differentiates with other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. At the moment, XRP is one of the largest virtual currencies in the market and it has attracted investors from all over the world.
One of the things you need to take into account is related to regulations. Ripple, the company behind XRP, has been accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to sell unregistered securities. This has created several problems for Ripple. In this post, we will explain to you all the issues that affected XRP.
Table of Contents
What is XRP?
XRP (formerly known as Ripple) is one of the largest cryptocurrencies in the market. At the moment of writing this article, it is the fourth most valuable virtual currency in terms of market capitalization. XRP is surpassed only by Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Tether (USDT).
Ripple Labs provides a frictionless experience to send money around the world using blockchain technology. With XRP, financial institutions can process payments from all over the world instantly, reliably, and cost-effectively. Additionally, the virtual currency XRP can be used by banks and institutions to further reduce costs and access new markets.
The company has offices in San Francisco, New York, London, Sydney, India, Singapore and Luxembourg. Moreover, Ripple Labs has partnered with more than 100 customers from all over the world.
XRP Features
According to Ripple’s website, XRP can process payments faster than ETH, BTC and traditional systems. While XRP, payments settle in 4 seconds, ETH payments take 2 or more minutes to settle, Bitcoin 1 or more hours, and traditional systems between 3 to 5 days.
At the same time, XRP is able to handle 1,500 transactions per second (TPS) and is able to scale and handle the same throughput as VISA. Furthermore, Ethereum is able to handle 15 transactions per second, while Bitcoin between 3 and 6 TPS.
After five years with stable technology and responsible governance, Ripple is ready for institutional and enterprise use. Established in 2012, Ripple uses a tiny amount of energy compared to other virtual currencies, all the ledgers are closed without issue since inception and has a dedicated team of world-class engineers behind.
Ripple Products and Services
Ripple offers a wide variety of services and products that financial institutions find very effective. Currently, Ripple has more than 100 clients and the network keeps expanding all over the world.
RippleNet:
RippleNet is the global payments network. This is the world’s only enterprise solution for global payments. Banks and financial companies can use RippleNet to communicate with each other.
This network helps companies and firms provide money-transfer services in a frictionless way. The platform works by providing information about the needs of each company. Each of these trusted entities could use this network to search for the best solutions to their clients.
For example, if there is a bank in Saudi Arabia that wants to transfer 10,000,000 SAR to Mexico and receive Mexican Peso (MXN). With traditional systems, if the bank does not have any contact with a Mexican entity, it might be somehow complicated to get the transfer processed.
However, with the Ripple Network, the client can get connected with the other party in just minutes. This is why it is so important. But that’s not all, and this is where xCurrent complements the RippleNet.
xCurrent:
xCurrent is the name of the software solution that banks and other financial institutions use to send and receive cross-border payments with end-to-end tracking and bi-directional messaging across the RippleNet.
The Interledger Protocol (ILP) is the backbone of the product and it allows instant payments to be sent across a variety of different networks.
xRapid:
xRapid is one of the latest products released by Ripple and is being built for payments providers. The market was searching for a low-cost liquidity solution and this is what Ripple is offering with this xRapid product.
xRapid is a liquidity solution that financial firms can use to bridge different currencies. If banks want to make an international transfer between two currencies, it is relatively easy. They just sell the local currency and purchase foreign currency. The transfer gets settled in just a few days.
However, things get tricky if we think that not all currencies have large liquidity. A bank located in the Philippines might not have enough liquidity to handle a large transfer with a bank located in Chile. The Philippine peso (PHP) does not have large liquidity with the Chilean peso (CLP).
With xRapid, banks and institutions can use the XRP virtual currency to bridge the two aforementioned fiat currencies. This can happen not only with the CLP and the PHP, but also with other illiquid pairs.
In some cases, banks need to move their funds from one currency to another with a larger trading volume and then transform it to the local currency. This is expensive and takes a longer time.
XRP, instead, would provide the necessary liquidity between two different currency corridors. In this way, the transfer can get processed faster and cheaper.
xVia:
This is one of the latest Ripple products in the market. Indeed, it is currently being developed. xVia has been created for those who want to send international payments through a bank or payment provider on RippleNet.
Ripple’s Team
Brad Garlinghouse
Brad Garlinghouse is the CEO of Ripple and also a member of the Board of Directors. Mr Garlinghouse has been working in the past as CEO of file collaboration service Hightail. Between 2009 and 2012, he has President of Consumer Applications at AOL. Moreover, he held various positions at Yahoo!.
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple
Asheesh Birla
Asheesh Birla is the SVP of Product at Ripple. He joined back in 2013 in order to lead the development of their product suite. Asheesh is a blockchain expert and contributes and gives advice to the company. Before, he was working 15 years in Silicon Valley where he founded a content management company that he sold to Thomson-Reuters.
Asheesh Birla, SVP of Product at Ripple
Patrick Griffin
Patrick Griffin is the SVP of Strategic Growth at Ripple, he was an early employee of Jumio, an internet payment and identity company. He built out the business development team and sales strategy there.
SVP of Strategic Growth at Ripple
Other important members include Cory Johnson, Chief Market Strategist, Kanaan, SVP of Engineering, Sandi Kochhar, VP of People, Brynly Llyr, General Counsel, Monica Long, SVP of Marketing and Communications, John Mitchell, SVP of Global Sales, Antoinette O’Gorman, Chief Compliance Officer, David Schwartz, Chief Cryptographer, Stefan Thomas, CTO, Marcus Treacher, SVP of Customer Success, Eric van Miltenburg, SVP of Business Operations, and Ron Will, Chief Financial Officer.
Where Can I Buy XRP?
XRP can be bought in many different exchanges including Bitstamp, Coinone, Bitso, Kraken, Gateib and Binance. Many other cryptocurrency exchanges are available to trade Ripple. Coinbase is also one of the crypto exchanges that allow users to purchase XRP.
Due to the recent legal issues with the SEC, XRP might be delisted from some exchanges.
XRP in the Market
As mentioned before, XRP is now the fourth largest virtual currency in terms of market capitalization (January 2021). At the moment, each XRP coin can be bought for $0.23 dollars. Its highest point has been reached at the beginning of January 2018, when each XRP coin was traded around $3.8 dollars.
If Ripple keeps expanding its products, the future could bring great news for this virtual currency and the team behind it. Nevertheless, it might face a large number of legal issues with regulators around the world.
Disclaimer
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