Ripple (XRP) – Is It Worth? An In Depth Review

Written by Adolph Obasogie - Reviewed by Coin Review Team

Published: Apr 23, 2018 | Last Updated: Jan 16, 2019

2025-01-22T10:04:40+00:00

What is Ripple?

Ripple is a real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) and remittance network. Its native asset is called XRP. It functions as a digital currency and in contrast to BTC the total supply is pre-mined.

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The sole purpose of XRP is digital value transfer and the use-cases or remittances and inter-bank transfers. XRP relies on independent validator nodes that validate transactions.

Unlike BTC or ETH, they use very few validator nodes to verify transactions. That allows for faster transactions but heavily favors centralization.

XRP can execute 1500 tps (transactions per second) on-chain but doesn’t offer the same security as permissionless blockchains like Bitcoin or Ethereum.

History

Ryan Fugger, a developer from Vancouver, founded RipplePay. This company was later bought by Jed McCaleb and Chris Larsen.

McCaleb and Chris Larsen then co-founded OpenCoin and developed the project further and created XRP. OpenCoin received capital in a funding round from Andreessen Horowitz, FF Angel IV, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Broad Ventures and Bitcoin Opportunity Fund.

In the year 2013 OpenCoin changed its name to Ripple Labs and in 2015 rebranded to Ripple. Jed McCaleb separated from Ripple in 2013 and went on to build the competing payment network Stellar.

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Can it be mined?

No, all of the existing 99,992,362,643 XRP have been pre-mined at the inception of the network.

What differs it from other Cryptocurrencies?

XRP is premined and relies on few validator nodes for transaction validation.

It is solely built to function as a currency, so no smart contracts are implemented.

XRP is very fast; transactions usually settle in ~4 seconds.

How much is Ripple worth today?

What is the total and the circulating supply?

The total supply of XRP is 99,992,362,643 and the circulating supply at the time of writing is 39,122,794,968 XRP.

Where can you buy XRP?

You can buy XRP on several cryptocurrency exchanges, most notably Bithump, Binance, Bitfinex, Huobi, Bitstamp, OKEx, and Coinone.

Can XRP be sold for cash?

You can sell XRP for cash on several cryptocurrency exchanges that have fiat-pairings, most notably Bitfinex, Bitstamp, and Kraken.

Future Development

The development of the payment system and the digital asset XRP is mostly finished. But it is continuing to extend their relationships to banks and financial institutions wants to further the adoption of their payment solution. Also, more validator nodes are being installed.

Verdict and Rating

2/10 Many of their partners use Ripple’s products, most notably their Inter-Ledger Protocol (ILP) and Ripple Connect. But, what is often overseen, both solutions also function without XRP.

And if XRP is implemented someday, it doesn’t matter if one unit is worth 1 cent or 100 $.

The functionality remains the same. Another very negative aspect is the fact that the company Ripple owns the majority of existing XRP (55 billion). And their approach is counterintuitive to a decentralized, permissionless blockchain ecosystem.

Ripple is not open to the public, and it is a for-profit company. With their validator nodes, they are one of the most centralized digital currencies existing.

2 / 10.0

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Disclaimer

The writer’s views are expressed as a personal opinion and are for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.