Currently, many people are immersing themselves with great interest in the new financial market - cryptocurrency. That is, the world community is gradually entering the era of cryptocurrencies. For example, in China, Estonia, India, Romania, Bulgaria, England, Japan, Germany and the United States, the digital economy of many enterprises and companies is based precisely on cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ether, etc. However, there are much more cryptocurrencies. On the basis of the Bitcoin blockchain and other technologies, more than 1000 types of digital money have appeared, used for various areas and business purposes. In this article, we will look at the Ripple cryptocurrency and its key aspects.

About XRP project

Ripple is an open payment system, or rather its prototype. The system allows you to get rid of the mediation of credit card companies, banks and other financial institutions. The work of the system is focused on the implementation of various currency exchanges, but without the possibility of chargebacks. XRP is the main cryptocurrency on the network. This decentralized digital currency still has a kind of center. That is, a centralized body, in this case Ripple, is in charge of resource management and making major decisions, and not an abstract community. If we consider XRP in terms of market capitalization, then it occupies an honorable third place among cryptocurrencies, behind only Ether and Bitcoin.

Fixed issue XRP was created. The total number of coins is 100 billion. Moreover, about 60% belongs to the Ripple company itself. It is also worth noting that this crypto cannot be mined, since, in accordance with the rules of the XRP company protocol, there is no built-in software for increasing the number of tokens. If we talk about the throughput capacity of the system, then, according to the developers, it is comparable to Visa. The XRP blockchain is capable of conducting up to 1500 transactions per second. Moreover, all 24 hours and 52 weeks a year per day, and this, in turn, is 250 times more than Bitcoin, and 100 times more than Ether.

How is XRP created?

Ryan Fugger is the founder of the Ripple system. Since its inception, the system has undergone colossal changes. The protocol itself, or rather its basic concept, appeared long before Bitcoin was presented. However, a full-fledged cryptocurrency saw the light only in 2012. The companys growth began in the not so distant 2004 with the development of the RipplePay system by Ryan Fugger, designed to make online money transfers safe for the user. The first version of this system was released in 2005.

The following theory was the basis for the creation of RipplePay.

Banks and other financial institutions operate by obtaining and issuing loans. They put a large percentage on all loans, and this despite the fact that they have attracted the money issued to themselves on a deposit at a much lower interest rate.
In fact, when taking credit funds, the client receives this money not from the bank, but from another client who deposited it there.
If you offer a trusted P2P network in which people can do without intermediaries, then banks can be removed from this chain. Loans will become available to everyone who needs them.
When creating a new chain, the main issue was trust. And to solve it, Fugger suggested using intermediaries as proxies who do not charge fees for their services. The Ripple team started to create a blockchain platform, but with similar functionality only in 2011, and the idea of launching their own cryptocurrency visited the developers in 2012. Based on Ryan Fuggers concepts, a transaction protocol was created with the ability to bypass transaction fees and latency times consistent with traditional partner banking systems. This is how OpenCoin Inc. was born.

In 2013, the network was renamed Ripple Labs. And the next important step in the development of Ripple has come - the introduction to the world of a public blockchain developed by a company that does not require trusted counterparties and gateways for transparent and honest work. The cryptocurrency market has been replenished with a new ticker - XRP. For the company, 2013 became one of the most profitable, since it was then that it managed to raise more than one and a half million for its development. Moreover, such well-known venture funds as FF Angel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bitcoin Opportunity Fund, IDG Capital Partners, Vast Ventures, Horowitz and Google acted as investors. The attraction of such partners in the first round of fundraising was a serious claim for further success.

In 2014, banks began to actively connect to the system. Also this year, the asset freeze and the possibility of their confiscation were put into operation. In October 2015, the company was finally formed and underwent another renaming. Now she began to bear the name Ripple, familiar to us. In 2016, she received about $ 55 million in investments. International venture funds, including the transnational corporation Google, again acted as investors.

But the rapid growth of the exchange rate fell on May 2017. XRP value has grown almost 20 times in just two months. The cryptocurrency showed its historical maximum in 2018, when the rate jumped to $ 2.78 for 1 XRP. But soon after the jump, the crypt began to sink. And as of December 1, 2019, the XRP price is only $ 0.23 per coin. But soon everything could change again.

XRP opportunities

As mentioned earlier, XRP is considered one of the most popular cryptocurrencies. And this is not strange, as it shows excellent bandwidth, which is currently not available with any of the best cryptocurrencies. Also, the crypt has the lowest transaction cost. When transferring funds, the mandatory commission is no more than 0.00001 XRP. It is also worth noting the positive impact on banking systems. Ripple may well serve as a tool to decentralize the traditional banking system.

At the moment, Ripple has built partnerships with many global world institutions, there are more than 60 of them. Among them are the following: UniCredit, RBC, UBS. Also, the Ripple system is used by most of the banks in Asia. The distribution register is also used by European organizations such as the British bank Santander. For international transactions, the crypt is used by the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. Soon, the introduction of the system in US banks is not excluded, since the company has already managed to obtain licenses to carry out cryptocurrency transactions in New York. And in Canada, Ripple is already fully used by the Royal Bank of Canada.

Is XRP Infinite?

XRP is an open source product developed by Ripple to address the major challenges of moving money in international payments. Crypto payment agents are used to enter new financial markets. Banks are used to provide liquidity in real time at the request of the client. XRP reduces the cost of currency exchange and speeds up the settlement of payments made. With the use of a crypt, any currency is transferred to any city or country in seconds and with a minimum transaction fee.

In total, the company issued 100 billion XRP, and now its representatives do not confirm the information about the planned increase in the number of tokens. The company regularly issues cryptocurrency, so the project can exist indefinitely as long as the public interest in it is maintained. There are several ways to purchase cryptocurrency: through exchanges, exchangers, brokerage platforms and some wallets. There are many exchanges where you can profitably buy XRP, but there are only a few reliable ones. These include: Binance and EXMO exchanges. The first allows you to buy XRP for world currencies or for Bitcoins and other crypts. On the EXMO exchange, a purchase can be made for euros, dollars, rubles and even hryvnia, and you can pay with a bank card or various payment systems (WebMoney, etc.). The sale is also carried out on other exchanges such as Poloniex, Bitfinex, Kraken and Bittrex.

Buying through special exchangers is based more on cryptocurrency pairs, but many resources also support the exchange of dollars, euros and other currencies for crypto. Some of the most trusted exchangers include Prostocash, Xchange and Baksman. You can also buy XRP coins through wallets, for example, Gatehub. If you want to use the crypt not for transfers, but for making money, then it is better to give preference to brokers and trading platforms such as Changelly.

Regardless of the method chosen, in order to carry out XRP transactions, you first need to get a wallet that will store digital coins. Then you can go to a resource that provides the services you need. You need to register on it, that is, fill out the registration form with a password and login, and confirm your actions by clicking on the link that will come to your email. All that remains is to log into your account. After this operation, you will have the opportunity to purchase Ripple cryptocurrency.

Ripple wallets allow the user to buy coins and spend them for their own purposes. All wallets for XRP coins can be roughly divided into three types:

Hardware wallets. Applications that are installed on a PC, tablet, or other device. Savings management and transactions are performed using an individual key. They are considered the safest. The best option for long-term savings. Among hardware wallets, the most reliable are Ledger Nano S, Toast, KeepKey, and Trezor.
Online wallets. Several users can access them. Suitable for storing small amounts of money. The best option is the official Ripple wallet. To start it, you need to go to the companys website and register on it. After that, you will be given an individual key with which you can make transactions.
Exchange accounts. For users who are engaged in trading, they are suitable for short-term storage of funds.
Before choosing one or another wallet, it is imperative to check the security of your Internet connection. In order to be completely sure that your funds will not go anywhere and that all operations with cryptocurrency will be safe, you should purchase a private key for one specific device.

XRP strengths

Of course, this cryptocurrency has its drawbacks. For example, excessive centralization, that is, the network is not distributed as well as classic cryptocurrencies. In addition, there is a risk that the company will block funds. Of course, the reasons for blocking are justified, this is mostly fraud, but some users lose their trust in the project because of this. Also, the disadvantages include the large number of tokens held by the company itself. As mentioned earlier, Ripple holds over half of all coins. But even in spite of all these disadvantages, most of the community, which is in one way or another connected with cryptocurrency, believes that XRP is a good investment and will be it as long as there are banks in the world. In addition, they note that the popularity will not fade away due to the fact that miners cannot manipulate the course, since coins can only be earned using computing power for scientific projects.

XRP in TOP currencies

The developers themselves claim that the prospects for XRP look promising and bright. According to their forecasts, by mid-2020, if the company finds an effective way to stabilize the exchange rate, more than 40% of Japanese banks will be connected to the system. In addition, financial institutions such as BAML and RBS are planning to use Ripple for commercial and retail payment services. And by the end of 2020, XRP will begin to be used everywhere, and it is quite possible that the value of the coin by 2021 in certain periods will reach ten dollars or more. Some experts even give forecasts for 2025, noting that XRP has every chance of becoming the backbone of bank transfers. But at the moment, the currency is in third place in the list of the most popular currencies, and its capitalization as of December 2019 is $ 8,422,454,428.