Ripple (XRP) is a cryptocurrency that is liquid and efficient, enabling cost-effective, rapid transactions. It is associated with the Ripple platform. Let’s explore the basics of XRP, including what it was designed for, how it works, its market performance, its risks and challenges, and more. After finishing this guide, you should have a thorough overview of XRP and its primary uses.
XRP Price
Below, you can view the current price for XRP and the XRP price history. The all-time low for XRP was $0.002802, and the all-time high was $3.84. While a crypto trading within a $4 range may not appear to fluctuate as dramatically as some others, keep in mind that there is still a ton of volatility here. XRP peaked in early 2018, and also reached a relatively high point in 2021.
Regulatory factors have played a prominent role in influencing the price of Ripple, as has market volatility.
What Is Ripple (XRP)
The Ripple platform itself was designed back in 2012, as a brainchild of Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb who created it with the goal to revolutionize global infrastructure used for digital transactions, settlements and exchange of financial assets. Traditional financial institutions have demonstrated their support for the Ripple project. Currently, there are dozens of institutions, banks, and other financial service providers, such as Standard Chartered Bank and American Express, who are using one of the three Ripple products.
The platform is among the fastest currently as it settles payments in a mere four seconds. Moreover, it is able to process up to 1,500 transactions per second (TPS). The settlement speed is a factor that banks see as an advantage because this results in greater customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the TPS value means the platform is able to support a large number of users which is where many digital currencies, such as Bitcoin, are unable to effectively function and deliver.
Transferring money between banks is not a cheap affair with banks spending a large amount in fees. The use of Ripple platform can help them reduce the cost associated with these transactions through the use of its native digital currency XRP. Moreover, the platform supports cross-currency payments, which means that it is possible to change currencies within a transaction while still maintaining speed and cost-effectiveness.
The purpose of Ripple is to function as an alternative to the SWIFT payment system. Through Ripple, users can make fast, cost-effective transfers, purchasing or selling goods or services or exchanging cryptos and fiat currencies. The transparency and robustness of Ripple adds an extra layer of trust to the transfer process.
When transferring money via Ripple, one can expect to pay a fee of roughly 0.00001 XRP. That is extremely low, especially for international transfers.
How Does XRP Work?
Ripple is somewhat centralized compared to many other cryptocurrencies, though it can still be described as decentralized overall. To validate transactions on the network, it uses a consensus algorithm instead of proof-of-work or proof-of-stake. According to the official Ripple website, this method makes it 61,000 times more energy-efficient than it would be if it relied on proof-of-work.
How does the consensus protocol work? Every 3-5 seconds, servers referred to as “validators” reach a consensus on transactions on the network. If you are looking for an in-depth explanation, the XRP Ledger website is the best place to learn.
Who Created XRP?
Ripple (XRP) was created by Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto, David Schwartz, and Ryan Fugger. Coming together, they launched Ripple Labs Inc., launching Ripple itself in 2012. Ripple was developed on a previous framework known as OpenCoin.
XRP Market Performance
At the time of this writing, the XRP market cap is $30,886,322,082. This ranks it as #6, placing it directly behind Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), BNB (BNB), and Solana (SOL).
How to Buy and Store XRP
It is easy to get started buying, storing and selling XRP. Follow the steps below.
- First, you will need to choose an exchange and a wallet. You will use the exchange to buy, sell and trade cryptos such as XRP. You will use the wallet to store the cryptos you are holding. You can keep them separate, or you can use a single service that provides both.
- Open your accounts for the wallet and the exchange.
- Verify your identity so that you can unlock all features and remove limits for the accounts.
- Deposit funds into your exchange account. Most exchanges offer a few different deposit methods so you can pick one that is convenient to you.
- Use the funds in your exchange account to buy XRP.
- Either keep the XRP in the wallet the exchange provided you or transfer them to your off-site wallet.
You can now hold your XRP as an investment, or you can use it to pay for goods or services. You also can receive XRP payments as soon as you are set up with the wallet and exchange.
When you want to sell the XRP, you can do so through the exchange. You may either sell XRP for another cryptocurrency, or for a fiat currency. Once you have exchanged your XRP for a fiat currency, you also have the option to withdraw it from the exchange account.
How XRP Tokens are Created and Burned
With many cryptocurrencies, coins or tokens are mined continuously. But that is not the case with XRP. Instead, 100 billion XRP were “pre-mined” before the project went live.
XRP tokens are also sometimes “burned” to take them out of circulation, which can impact the price of the cryptocurrency.
The Future of XRP
Although there are some threats to XRP, which will be discussed in the next section, there are some reasons to be optimistic about its future.
For one thing, Ripple was developed to fill a concrete application in the real world. It is doing a good job at that, so its value should continue to be recognized by businesses, banks and investors.
There is also the matter of the environment. Cryptocurrencies have come under fire in recent years due to their enormous carbon footprint (Bitcoin’s in particular). Cryptos that are environmentally friendly are more likely to be readily adopted, and XRP satisfies this criterion.
Finally, if widely adopted, XRP has a real chance to become the first world bridge currency. However, this will depend heavily on the final outcome of the SEC vs Ripple lawsuit.
You can view an XRP price prediction at changelly. The exchange predicts that the price for the crypto will increase gradually over time as more people adopt the new technology.
Risks and Challenges
One of the main risks facing Ripple at this juncture is legal; as you will read in the next section, XRP is mired in a thorny regulatory situation, and has been for years.
Ripple also faces threats from some of its closest competitors, which we will discuss later on in this post.
Regulatory and Legal Aspects of XRP
The way that XRP was created and distributed has caused Ripple to run into issues with regulators.
A class action lawsuit was filed against Ripple in 2018. The lawsuit stated that the way Ripple did things amounted to “a never-ending initial coin offering” after the coins were created “out of thin air.”
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) took an interest after deciding that XRP amounted to unregistered securities. In 2020, they also took action, likewise stating that Ripple simply sold more than a billion dollars worth of XRP in order to profit.
It was not until 2023 that a judge determined that XRP is not a security after all, but that the company’s actions still were essentially unregistered sales of investment contracts. As of 2024, the matter is still not resolved, and Ripple may be facing a full trial later down the road.
Community and Ecosystem
The XRP Ledger ecosystem consists of a wide range of apps, services, middleware APIs, and client libraries together with the ledger’s P2P network and core servers. The XRP Ledger website offers detailed information about the structure of this ecosystem.
On the XRP Ledger site, you can also view community resources. You may find additional wings of the XRP community on social media platforms.
Comparing XRP to Other Cryptocurrencies
Now that you have a strong understanding of the answer to the question, “What’s an XRP?”, we can talk about some of this crypto’s chief rivals.
One of Ripple’s competitors is a blockchain infrastructure called Roxe, featuring the ROC coin. Like Ripple, Roxe’s main objective is to facilitate rapid and affordable global payments across international borders. Roxe is arguably more flexible and transparent than Ripple, though it is also newer and not as well established yet.
Another big competitor for XRP is DASH, likewise set up to make it easy and cheap to send money around the globe. Dash was founded just a couple of years after Ripple. It features strong security and high transaction speeds. It is more decentralized than Ripple.
FAQs
To conclude our post about XRP and Ripple, let’s answer some frequently asked questions about this crypto.
How much is 1 XRP to buy?
At the time of writing, the cost to purchase 1 XRP is $0.5678 USD. While Cryptonews strives for accuracy and up-to-the-minute information, the price is constantly fluctuating, and when you read this, it could be significantly higher or lower.
Is XRP actually safe?
Yes, XRP is safe to buy and use. But like other cryptocurrencies, it is volatile and poses high risk for your investment portfolio.
What is XRP used for?
Ripple and XRP are designed mainly to facilitate fast, cost-effective money transfers, particularly across international borders. But people also invest in XRP.
Who can use XRP?
Anyone can use XRP. The main target market for this crypto is businesses, however. If you run a business, consider using it to transfer money to and from other countries. It can save you a lot in fees compared to other transfer methods.
How much will XRP be worth in 2025?
Changelly predicts that at the start of 2025, XRP will have an average price of $0.813, and might range anywhere from $0.502 up to $0.675. Keep in mind, however, that is just a prediction. The reality could turn out differently. There is always risk and uncertainty with crypto prices, and XRP is no exception.
Is XRP a good investment?
As with other cryptos, it is hard to make a prediction as to whether or not XRP is a good investment. With all of the volatility, it is a risky one, however.