In previous blog articles, weโve covered a broad view of cryptocurrency and offered a closer look at Bitcoin, Ethereum and several other altcoins.
๐ In this article, weโll take a closer look at the platform โ Ripple, along with its cryptocurrency XRP, and provide information on what they are and how they work together. Here is our brief guide to get you on a clearer path to understanding.
๐ฐ RIPPLE & XRP IN A NUTSHELL
๐ Ripple is the private enterprise software company that founded and created the Ripple Protocol. This is a distributed open-source protocol which includes the Ripple Consensus Ledger (RCL) and RippleNet, a suite of payment solutions products marketed to banks, non-financial institutions and digital currency exchanges.
๐ฐ XRP is the native token of the RCL. It is used for facilitating the transfer of money between different currencies across the network.
๐ RIPPLE & XRPโS HISTORY
๐ก Ripple was conceived by Jed McCaleb and built by Arthur Britto and David Schwartz. It was developed in 2005 by Ryan Fugger as a financial service for secure payments within an online community, initially called OpenCoin. It later evolved into Ripple, which also created its own digital currency (XRP) to enable financial institutions to transfer money with low fees and short wait times.
๐ฆ In 2013, the company reported interest from banks in using its payment system. By 2018, over 100 banks had signed up, although most were only using Ripple's XCurrent messaging technology rather than the more volatile XRP cryptocurrency. The company, Ripple Labs, has continued to contribute to the consensus verification system behind Ripple.
๐งฎ 100 billion XRP units were created at its inception, an official number which will not increase or decrease according to its protocol. XRP was created prior to the founding of Ripple Labs, the company. The XRP creators gifted the company 80% of all XRP, keeping 20 billion units for themselves. This aspect of XRP is one of the reasons that banks and businesses have taken to the digital currency; it cannot be mined because it is centrally controlled.
๐ XRP TOKENOMICS
The finite supply of XRP totals just under 100 billion. Currently,roughly 50% of the total supply of ether, or 50.34 million XRP is in circulation. The current market capitalization of XRP is approximately USD$16.7 billion.
๐๐ต BRIDGING CURRENCY
๐ Ripple uses a shared ledger and a network of independent servers to validate and transmit payments, which are irreversible and have no chargebacks.
๐ฑ One of XRPโs primary functions is bridging currency. Traditional settlement systems use the US Dollar (or USD๐ต) as a common currency when converting money. XRP was designed with the aim of one-day replacing USD as the settlement currency of choice for financial institutions.
๐ซ By first converting the value of a fiat currency to the digital XRP, rather than USD, exchange rate fees and margins for financial institutions, and potentially users, can be eliminated while processing times can be sped up.
๐ฅ Each transaction done on the RCL destroys a tiny fraction of XRP (the average fee is .00001 XRP) in a token โburnโ. This transaction cost is to prevent spam or denial-of-service attacks on the network.
๐ฒ XRP PRICE
When XRP initially launched in 2013, it had a minimal value that fluctuated between USD$0.003 and ย USD$0.055 for its first few years of trading (2013 - early 2017). As the popularity of cryptocurrency soared in the 2017 bull run, the XRP value reached an all time high price of ย USD$3.09 before falling. It reached a further peak in early 2021 of USD$1.79 before falling again in the 2022 bear market.
๐ EARNING XRP WITH BLOOM
๐ฒ.The Bloom shopper rewards app allows you to earn XRP and other crypto (like Bitcoin, Ethereum and a range of other altcoins) with every purchase made on your Visa card ๐ณ.
๐ฆ All you need to do is download the Bloom app, register an account, link your Visa card and shop anywhere using your credit or debit card.
๐ฐ With every purchase, you will earn Bloom Coins by simply using your Visa card๐ณ. The more you use your card, the more Bloom Coins you will earn.
๐ Bloom Coins can be redeemed for in-app rewards and converted into XRP.
๐ Converting crypto on Bloom, such as XRP, is free of charge and has no gas fees!
๐ Earn exclusive 3x Bloom Coin rewards with a Premium Membership.
The information provided on this website does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other sort of advice and you should not treat any of the website's content as such. Bloom does not recommend that any cryptocurrency or NFTs should be bought, sold, or held by you. Do conduct your own due diligence and consult your financial advisor before making any investment decisions.