Bitcoin and Ripple are vastly different. Bitcoin, is your gold standard asset in the crypto world. Used as currency and asset building. Ripple on the other hand, uses technology (2 products xRapid and xCurrent) to help banks and companies with cross board transactions. ie send USD to YEN, XRP is the currency used to settle liquidity between banks in xRapid. xCurrent is used for messaging between institutions, to verify banking information so settlements happen in minutes and not days, which is currently used. Hope that helps.
RE: Ripple - xRapid vs xCurrent