Ripple’s founder Brad Garlinghouse said the company uses blockchain technology to send money across the world in real time settlements.
He said: “Ripple sells a blockchain technology to banks and payment providers and other financial institutions to do real-time settlement between banks.
“So today if you wanted to send $10,000 to London right now, the fastest way for her to do that is to drive to Newark or JFK and fly it there.
“Our view is in a world of the internet when you can stream video from the space station, you should be able to do real-time settlement between banks, we sell the technology to banks to do that.”
Ripple’s co-founder and the largest holder of Ripple tokens, Mr Larsen, at one point on Thursday, became richer than Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg with a worth more than $59 billion, according to Forbes.
Other Ripple holders would have also zoomed up the list as the value of their cryptocurrency tokens soared more than 100 percent during the week.
Ripple’s value surged amid rumours it would start training on CoinBase, an app popular with cryptocurrency traders buying and selling bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum.
However, the price surge came to an abrupt halt and reversed when CoinBase denied it was planning to take on new cryptocurrencies.
CoinBase said: “We have made no decision to add additional assets to CoinBase.
“Any statement to the contrary is untrue and not authorised by the company.”
Bloomberg analyst Mike McGlone said bitcoin – the original cryptocurrency – risks being taken over by newer, faster competitors – like Ripple.
Speaking on Bloomberg, he said: “The problem with bitcoin, it’s like AOL – it’s the first born.
“It’s getting that way, all the new ones are coming and they’re transacting faster, they’re new and improved.
“They’re generation two, three or four, whatever you call it, and bitcoin is becoming the old dog.”
Ripple could continue to flourish after a top economist has warned that bitcoin could reach “zero” and become the biggest financial bubble ever.
Jim Rickards said: “Personally, I’m very sceptical of bitcoin, I know where the price action is. It’s you know, going up about 10 percent a day at this point.
“Although bitcoin could go up to $20,000, it can go to $30,000.