What is Ripple?
The good thing about the platform is that it allows payments with all currencies, including Bitcoin, and only charges a symbolic commission fee of $0.00001 for the transaction. If you ask the reason why it is not completely free, it is to prevent DDoS attacks…
What is XRP?
As a surprising fact, it is also worth noting that after each transaction made, the amount of $ 0.00001 collected by the platform “disappears” and cannot be replaced. Thus, with every transaction, the world becomes $0.00001 poorer. This system is designed to prevent spammers.
Who developed Ripple (XRP)?
The first studies on Ripple prototypes date back to 2004.
The actual start date of the platform is 2013, the year when Jed McCaleb, who developed the EDonkey network, called on the world's leading investors to support Ripple Labs
Who are the founders of Ripple Labs?
Chris Larsen is known as an angel investor, business executive and privacy activist who is considered the richest person in the cryptocurrency ecosystem . Larsen, the co-founder of many startups working in the field of financial services, made a name for himself with the online mortgage loan initiative E-loan, which he launched in 1996.
Jed McCaleb is a very famous software developer and entrepreneur... He is the founder of Ripple, Stellar, eDonkey, Overnet, as well as the famous cryptocurrency exchange Mt. He is also among the founders of Gox. Mt. He sold his share in the company before the hacking scandal on the Gox stock exchange. Before the hacking scandal, 70 percent of Bitcoin transactions were made through Mt. It took place on the Gox exchange.
What is Ripple Protocol Consensus Algorithm (RPCA)?
Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum , Ripple does not include a blockchain. A cryptocurrency that is not built on blockchain will of course seem quite strange to those who hear it for the first time. “How are transactions verified if there is no blockchain? How do you make sure everything is okay?” questions may come to mind. Unlike blockchain systems, Ripple has its own patented technology: Ripple Protocol Consensus Algorithm (RPCA).
The word "consensus" in the name of the system means that if every "node" on the network agrees with the others, there is no problem in the transaction. Let's put it this way; Imagine there is a large arena with hundreds of old and experienced people. They all need to agree to make an important decision. If all the elders in the arena agree, they can start or end a war. Taxes imposed in the country may increase, and orders may be given to start Olympic games and similar events. If even one member of the community does not accept the suggestion, no action is taken until the problem is found out.
What is Ripple used for?
Low-fee asset exchange:
- There are many currencies in the world that cannot be directly converted into each other. That's why banks use the US dollar as a mediator. So today there are two types of commissions: converting currency A to US dollars and then converting US dollars to currency B… Ripple is also an intermediary, but much, much cheaper than US dollars.
Fast international transactions
- An average transaction on Ripple takes 4 seconds. For Bitcoin, this time can be an hour or more. In traditional banking systems, it even takes a few days.
Payment ecosystem
- Users can basically issue their own currencies to offer fast and cheap transactions. For example, collectors can develop their own currency to purchase action figures.
What are the advantages of Ripple?
- Ripple was initially designed as a daily payment system and its infrastructure was created to be stronger than Bitcoin. As a result, transactions occur much faster and cheaper.
- Ripple was launched as an official organization. Because its main goal was to be preferred by banks. Therefore, the regulatory compliance issue that is a concern with many other cryptocurrencies does not apply to Ripple.
- Ripple has the ability to be exchanged for any currency or precious metal such as gold, for a symbolic commission fee.
Which banks support Ripple?
- Santander
- Axis Bank
- Yes Bank
- westpac
- Union Credit
- NBAD
- UBS
Is Ripple a good investment? How high will Ripple rise?
Preliminary statement: There is no such thing as a 100 percent safe investment, and every decision has its own risks. Whatever the issue, the decision is yours. However, we have listed some pros and cons below to help you out.
Pros of Ripple:
- As we emphasized before, Ripple is an official institution trusted by many banks. It is not an ordinary Blockchain creation developed by the unnamed company.
- Since all tokens are already created at the initial stage, there is no such thing as inflation in the Ripple network.
- The more banks use Ripple as a transaction platform, the higher the value of XRP will rise. If one day all banks decide to use XRP as the unified bank currency, those who invested in Ripple in its early stages will make a huge fortune.
Cons of Ripple:
- It's too centralized. We know that the main idea of cryptocurrencies is to take control away from the center and give it to the community. However, since all tokens on the Ripple platform are already created at the initial stage, developers can decide when and to what extent the tokens will be made available. So, roughly speaking, it's not much different from investing in a traditional bank.
- In addition to its centralized structure, Ripple Labs is already a monopoly in itself, as it owns 61 percent of the total tokens.
- Being open source. Although this seems like a smart move, it is obvious that there may be many people trying to hack the system since the code is easily accessible. Some may even be successful.
Ripple does not use a blockchain
The Ripple network does not run on a blockchain and its native cryptocurrency, XRP, is not dependent on a Proof of Work algorithm like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Therefore, it does not require as much energy and computing power while allowing faster processing speeds.
Instead, transactions on the Ripple network go through verification servers that constantly compare the information they receive and process it against a common ledger.
Ripple's Servers use a consensus mechanism called HashTree. The main difference between Ripple and the proof-of-work blockchain is that consensus is reached by comparing a single value, which is obtained by summarizing only the data of the ledger, not the entire data.
These independent verification servers are run either by individuals or by banks and institutions. According to the Ripple technical faq , the electricity required to run a validator is comparable to the electricity required to run an email server.
Transactions on the Ripple network pass through verification servers that constantly compare the information they receive and process it against a common ledger.
Ripple is much more than cryptocurrency XRP
While Bitcoin and other #cryptocurrencies position themselves as independent alternatives to traditional currencies and (central) banks, Ripple's aim is almost the opposite.
Ripple wants to act as a global settlement network and therefore works in collaboration with banks, payment providers and other financial institutions. Ripple's purpose is to serve as a flexible intermediary currency to facilitate the exchange of any unit of value.
Ripple is even older than Bitcoin
Another interesting aspect of Ripple is that the company is older than Bitcoin. A predecessor of the Ripple protocol, then called “Ripplepay,” was developed in 2014.
Ripple wants to act as a global settlement network and therefore works in collaboration with banks, payment providers and other financial institutions.
How to Open Ripple-XRP Wallet?
While there are many wallet alternatives for other cryptocurrencies, the number of wallets in which you can store XRP is limited. To have an XRP wallet on desktop, you can choose the open source Exodus or Atomic Wallet . There are also versions of the applications suitable for mobile devices.
If you prefer to use a mobile wallet for XRP, you can access more alternative wallets. Coinomi , TrustWallet , Abra are among the multiple wallets that support XRP that you can try.
If you want to try more than one XRP wallet, you should know that you need to pay 20 XRP to activate your XRP wallet. In other words, for your first XRP transfer to an XRP wallet, 20 XRP will be used to activate the wallet.
Although there are online wallet alternatives for storing XRP, we recommend that you choose a hardware wallet for your security. Hardware wallets that promise high security are widely used. These devices, reminiscent of a USB storage device, allow you to store your cryptocurrencies offline and keep you safe from attacks.
Finally, a piece of paper known as a "paper wallet" containing the wallet ID and private key codes can be used as an XRP wallet. Considering that cryptocurrency thefts are mostly done via the internet, there are also some risks for paper wallets, which are assumed to offer high security. This piece of paper may fall into someone else's hands, be lost or damaged.
Ripple and XRP: What awaits us in the future?
Ripple's aim since 2012 is to realize value transfers across borders quickly, cost-effectively and reliably; is to use the internet, blockchain technology and XRP.
For example, some cryptocurrency payment platforms already offer XRP as payment options. Ripple set out to revolutionize the payments industry while working towards some standardization of international transactions using financial technology. Ripple is also encouraging regulators around the world to introduce blockchain to traditional payment transactions.
XRP Ledger 1.6 was released in August 2020, with several updates aimed at improving overall performance. In addition to various bug fixes and optimizations, the consensus (approval) mechanism; It became more robust by putting offline validators aside when not connected to the network. Moreover, the hardened verifications introduced enabled servers to more easily detect Byzantine behavior (Byzantine Fault Tolerance), which is a major issue in the XRP space.
