Today we will explain step by step what is Ripple, its differences for Bitcoin and how its solution has impacted the current financial system.
"Ripple is one of the great promises for the future and has now been adopted by more than 15 major banks around the world."
WHAT IS RIPPLE?
Ripple is the name of a criptomoeda, also known by the acronym XRP.
If you still do not understand what a crypto-coin is, read: What are the Crypto-coins?
In addition to being a currency itself, Ripple is the name of the open payment network within which that currency is transferred.
In the same way that Ethereum would be the network and Ether the currency and token, in the case of Ripple, the network and the currency are called Ripple.
Ripple is a distributed and open source payment system that is still in beta.
The purpose of the Ripple network is to allow people to free themselves from the traditional financial market - credit cards, banks, PayPal and other institutions - that make it difficult to access capital through maintenance fees, processing delays, and various fees.
WHAT CAN RIPPLE SERVE?
Ripple's goal is to remove all clutter or noise and make money flow freely.
This happens in a scenario where banks and financial institutions hinder the transfer of values through processing fees and delays.
Using a comparison, the Ripple network wants to "do for money what the internet did for all other forms of communication":
.Speed,
.Confidence,
.Democratization
.Cost close to zero.
Schwartz, one of the founders of the project, sees the possibility that "big corporations lose control over the flow of money, just as in the recent past large corporations have lost their grip on the flow of information"
UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF EXCHANGE
Ripple aims to be a global exchange house without receiving fees to carry out a transaction or currency conversion.
The company defines itself as a universal "translator" for coins.
Imagine you have dollars, the Ripple network acts as a trail algorithm to find the best route to trade for a dollar to become a real or for airline miles to become bitcoins.
You could pay someone who only receives another currency without having to make the conversion of their money by themselves or pay high fees to brokers and brokers.
The network will examine all transaction orders within this global system with several currency options to outline the best (cheap) way for your exchange to occur.
In addition to accepting the most diverse currencies and crypto-coins, the Ripple network accepts its own currency, Ripple or XRP, to carry out transactions.
WHO'S BEHIND RIPPLE?
Unlike Bitcoin, Ripple was created by a company, not an anonymous developer. The organization does not control the network, does not receive fees or chooses who can enter.
The Ripple protocol was created by the company OpenCoin, having as founders a former collaborator of MT Gox and another of E-Loan.
The entire team of developers has a strong technical background of blockchain-oriented programming as well as several members who have contributed to the development of the Bitcoin system.
Is RIPPLE LIKE BITCOIN?
Looking at one side, yes.
Like Bitcoin, Ripple's XRP unit is a mathematical formula-based cryptomoeda, has a limited number of units and is based on Blockchain technology.
Both currencies can be transferred from user to user (peer-to-peer or P2P) without the need for an intermediary.
Both provide digital security through encryption and transparency to protect the network and the holders of capital against the possibility of someone divert resources from an account or "print money"
RIPPLE RACES WITH BITCOIN?
No!
Instead of positioning itself as a competitor with Bitcoin, Ripple is a complement to the solution of the first criptomoeda.
The Ripple network was designed to allow the transfer of any form of currency, whether Bitcoin, dollar, real or Argentine peso.
HOW RIPPLE BENEFITS BITCOINS USERS?
In addition to enabling Bitcoin owners to connect with owners of other criptomoedas, the Ripple network offers fast transactions and greater stability.
As a distributed network, this crypto-currency does not rely on a single company to manage and secure the transaction database.
Transaction confirmations pass through the network quickly by using the consensus method, rather than the proof of work adopted by Bitcoin.
IS IT WORTH INVESTING IN RIPPLE?
The currency has been undergoing an intense wave of appreciation and at the time of writing this post had a market value of more than 40 billion dollars.
In order to assess the favorable investment in an asset such as crypto-currencies, in addition to analyzing the current market value, one should always take into account the prospect of using a currency or network in the future.
The cryptomoeda presents several technical innovations of code but, without a doubt, the one that catches the attention and it is shining the eyes of the investors is the possibility of being used of large scale by ordinary people in a brief future, what would make the market value of the currency climbs vertiginously.
If your goal is to invest in technology solutions looking for the long term, it may be an excellent option.
Given the fact that the largest banks in the world have exploited Ripple's technology solution.