What is Ripple (XRP)?

 

Ripple is a real-time gross settlement (RTGS), foreign exchange and remittance network developed by Ripple. Also called the Ripple Transaction Protocol (RTXP) or Ripple, it is built on the basis of an open distributed Internet protocol, a consensus ledger and a native currency called XRP (ripples). Launched in 2012, Ripple aims to enable "secure, instant and almost free global financial transactions of any size without rejection". It supports tokens representing fiat currency, cryptocurrency, commodity or any other unit of value, such as flight miles or mobile phone minutes. At its core, Ripple is based on a shared public database, which uses a consensus process that allows payments, exchanges and remittances in a distributed process.

In 2014, Ripple defended the security of his consensus algorithm against rival Stellar Network. Currently, Ripple is the third largest cryptography by market capitalization, after bitcoin and Ethereum.

Used by companies like UniCredit, UBS or Santander, the Ripple protocol is increasingly being adopted by banks and payment networks as a settlement infrastructure technology, with American Banker explaining that "from the banks' perspective, books - distributed reasons, like the Ripple system, have a number of advantages over cryptocurrencies like bitcoin ", including price and security.