The first and foremost crypto has rejoiced over just a tightfisted dose of admiration for the phenomenon that it birthed: a world where monetary value doesn’t first go through the banking or governmental systems before reaching you. Why is this such great news? At first glance, this opportunity is welcome because every third party that manages data, even for the shortest moment, instantly gains access to the recipient’s personal data. In a world where personal and sensitive data security is a stated promise, the fact that all people’s ID numbers, names, smartphone numbers, etc. are readily accessible by financial and law institutions isn’t exactly the most comforting thought to go to sleep with.
Crypto has managed to turn a long-held dream into a reality. Bitcoin isn’t the first attempt to develop a digital currency that places control in the hands of the owner; many more, famous attempts have marked the financial space. And Bitcoin isn’t the only crypto that can be used both as a payment and speculative investment – there is Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, and Ripple. They’re essentially either blockchains or layer-2 solutions, and broadly speaking, crypto platforms, and they all thrive on cryptos that are now part of retail and institutional investors’ portfolios.
So, what is Ripple and its native digital currency, XRP, all about? How has it managed to overthrow millions of cryptos in existence and secure the third place among the largest cryptos by market capitalization? Let’s explore this red-hot project in order to make an informed move if you’re ever considering investing in XRP / USD.
About XRP
The Ripple Protocol, also known as the XRP Ledger (XRPL), represents a cryptocurrency platform founded by engineers Jed McCaleb, David Schwartz, and Arthur Britto in 2011. The former, an early innovator in the blockchain space, has previously developed the first major Bitcoin exchange. In 2014, the developer went on to found one of Ripple’s competitors – Stellar – with the goal of expediting international payments.
XRP is the crypto that powers XRPL, the system where you find tokens, digital coins, and other units of value like postpaid mobile minutes and frequent flyer miles. Mobile minutes are the product of mobile phones supported by a contract with a mobile network provider, allowing for making calls and sending messages, among other services.
XRPL’s development began with a friendly discussion on a public board between the three and started by Jed McCaleb. The discussion was held on the BitcoinTalk.org site and registered under the “Bitcoin without mining” title, which heralded the tech system that the dev group was later going to create.
XRP isn’t mineable
XRP was never to be mined – it was already pre-mined and was released in the form of a package, with 100BN tokens built in just one session of mining. Ripple uses the tokens for its services, but it’s the proprietary consensus algorithm used by the blockchain ledger that facilitates all the work and has no use for mining when it comes to validating transactions. The original stock of XRP was given away to the Ripple Labs founders and to the company, with a share being vended to individuals and institutions.
Ripple’s sustainability is primarily due to its ledger, which is highly efficient from an energy perspective, and to the purchase of renewable energy via EW Zero, a solution employed in conjunction with 3Degrees, a leading provider of renewable energy.
Ripple is an oasis of sustainability compared to other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, and it’s likely to remain this way.
Ethereum’s immediate challenger since 2018
XRP has managed to protect its third place as the biggest crypto on the market for more than seven years, coming after BTC and ETH. The consensus ledger, Ripple Consensus Ledger, and the open-source scheme, Ripple, gave birth to the Ripple Transaction Protocol (RTXP) protocol, as well as to the digital currency labeled as XRP. Six years after coming out, famous actor Ashton Kutcher, who played in Two and a Half Men, No Strings Attached, The Butterfly Effect, and more, donated $4MN in XRP to a wildlife charity funded by comedian Ellen DeGeneres. The actor is a prominent face in the world of crypto; he has been investing in cryptocurrency and the underlying technology for years. By then, XRP was the third most expensive crypto on the market.
The donation introduced the concept of cryptocurrency, with a focus on XRP, especially, to a broader audience. The donation marked the beginning of a wider public engagement commitment, with educational efforts expanding afterward.
More celebrity endorsements
In July 2023, Judge Analisa Torres of the U.S. District Court for New York’s Southern District handed out a momentous ruling in the SEC vs. Ripple case that lasted for years, explaining that XRP itself is not a security as it was condemned by the regulator; though some institutional sales could still fall under securities laws. This landmark move meant a huge win for Ripple and offered the broader crypto industry a precedent regarding how digital tokens could be approached under the Howey test. This test, developed by the Supreme Court, decides which transactions are “investment contracts” and should be handled and taxed accordingly.
It was around that period that Ripple started a series of events featuring heavyweights like Snoop Dogg, who carried out shows at the “XRP Community Night”. Even ex-president Bill Clinton was among the invitees, who spoke at the Swell conference and made the crypto project seem more legitimate, important, and influential in the political world.
Where politics and philanthropy converge and favor digital currency.
Apart from the mentioned donations, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen has also used XRP for his philanthropic and political contributions, including a million-dollar gift in XRP to a pro-Kamala Harris super PAC last year. These actions helped XRP become more than just a crypto, and catapulted it into the public eye as both a tech platform and a financial asset with cultural appreciation.
XRP continues to be seen as an improved form of cryptocurrency thanks to the fact that it was only mined once, and never again.