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You can search the entire crypto space, but it’s harder to find a coin more controversial than XRP. A cryptocurrency that doesn’t follow Satoshi’s vision? Let’s see what the noise is all about.
What is Ripple?
Ripple is not only a cryptocurrency but also a company. Revolutionizing cross-border transactions and the way financial institutions conduct business is quite the goal, right? Ripple wants to be a bridge currency between different fiat, at the same time lowering costs and increasing speeds.
XRP is quite different from Bitcoin. Satoshi created the network to empower individuals and dispose of the traditional banking system. Meanwhile, Ripple wants to embrace it. Two divergent visions—no wonder Ripple is such a controversial cryptocurrency. You either love it or hate it—there’s no in-between.
Why use Ripple?
If Ripple was made with financial institutions in mind, why would you use it? Good point—it’s fast and cheap, sure. Many just buy and hold XRP with the thought that, yes, it’s contrary to the original crypto vision, but the inevitable must happen—traditional finance will adopt crypto, and everything will be fine. Will it?
The way you feel about this company doesn’t matter. It needs to be said that they executed the idea and turned it into a successful project, which is a viable alternative for fast and cheap payments. XRP is also energy-efficient, making it environmentally friendly.
How Ripple works
Ripple was built on top of blockchain technology. As a result, the Ripple network is a public distributed ledger, which is transparent by design. An interesting fact is that XRP is neither Proof of Work nor Proof of Stake, but there are some similarities shared. The network, for instance, consists of nodes and validators.
The way Ripple determines the state of the ledger is by using a three-step process: transaction proposal, voting phase, and agreement. These three components are key for the functionality of this network.
One thing to remember is that the XRP blockchain requires a minimum balance of 10 XRP for an address to be active and the network to function properly. This is to prevent multiple accounts and spam transactions.
Ripple's timeline
In the year of 2012, Ripple Labs was founded by Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb. Then the XRP ledger was introduced in 2013, serving as an upgrade of existing banking infrastructure. Ripple wanted to integrate with banks, but there were two major obstacles: regulations and competitors. The competition weren't just another crypto projects but established companies like payment processors. In 2015 RippleNet was officially launched, making it a viable alternative to SWIFT systems. Then everything came back down with the SEC’s lawsuit alleging that XRP was an unregistered security. The resolution is still yet to be determined. Since then, Ripple has launched new features, expanded its reach to other regions, and collaborated with notable institutions like Santander and American Express.
The risks of Ripple
Nothing in this world is risk-free, but XRP is especially risky. There are many competitors in this niche, like fintech companies with a vision to fix banking, e.g., PayPal or Revolut. Let’s also not forget about regulations and the SEC lawsuit, which have a significant impact on the price. One piece of information can drag the price down or send it higher.
Although XRP wants to change the world for the better, it undermines the ethos of crypto. Also, if a company is behind a cryptocurrency, can we really call it decentralized?
Additionally, with a maximum supply of 100 billion tokens, of which 80 billion were gifted to Ripple Labs, can the distribution be called fair either? These tokens are periodically sold to fund operations. One question arises - are we being tricked into being the exit liquidity?
Why Ripple matters
While fixing the existing banking system can be called a noble cause, is it being done the right way? Mixing the anti-establishment crypto industry with traditional finance, which is the reason why crypto was created in the first place, can lead to unpredictable consequences in the future. Are we so focused on profits that we forgot and abandoned the principles of crypto?
