What is XRP?
How does the XRP blockchain work?
Did you know?
A brief history of XRP
2004 – Ryan Fugger develops secure payment service Ripplepay in 2004.
2011 – Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto and David Schwartz began work on a new currency system inspired by Bitcoin.
2012 – Jed McCaleb, Chris Larsen merged their idea with Fugger leading to the creation of OpenCoin.
2013 – McCaleb leaves OpenCoin, and the company changes its name to Ripple Labs.
2014 – The first bank starts using it to transfer money.
2015 – Ripple Labs rebrands to Ripple.
2016 – Brad Garlinghouse becomes CEO of Ripple.
2017 – In December, XRP briefly becomes the world’s second largest cryptocurrency, with a value of $73 billion.
2020 – The XRPL Foundation is launched.
2020 – SEC vs Ripple: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges Ripple with selling unregulated securities valued at $1.3 billion via XRP sales.
2023 – A federal judge rules that the XRP token is not a security, except in the case of sales to raise funds from institutions.
2025 – The SEC appeals the July 2023 ruling regarding XRP sales to retail investors.
The SEC vs Ripple
What makes XRP unique?
🏦 A service for banks – Ripple helps financial institutions move money quickly and cost-effectively as XRP through its Ripple Payments network.
💱 Bridges traditional banking and crypto – XRP acts as a bridge currency, facilitating the exchange between fiat currencies (e.g., USD, GBP) and cryptocurrencies.
💨 Fast transactions – XRP transactions settle in 3-5 seconds, significantly faster than Bitcoin’s ~10 minutes. The network can process 1,500 transactions per second (TPS), compared to Bitcoin’s 7 TPS and Ethereum’s 30 TPS.
💸 Low transaction costs – XRP transactions are much cheaper than traditional cross-border payment systems, making it an attractive option for financial institutions.
⚡ Energy efficient – Unlike Bitcoin, XRP does not rely on mining. Its consensus mechanism consumes far less energy, making it a more sustainable option.
🎯 Decentralized and peer-to-peer – While Ripple Labs plays a role in XRP’s development, transactions occur on an independent, decentralized network.
💎 Pre-mined – Unlike Bitcoin, which is mined over time, XRP was pre-mined at launch in 2012, with 100 billion XRP tokens created. Ripple Labs periodically releases XRP from escrow to fund operations and maintain liquidity.
How do you get hold of XRP?
What can you do with XRP?
Did you know?
The future of XRP
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Comments are closed.