What Is Ripple and Why Has Its Value Risen So Quickly?

With a value increase of 35,000% in 2017 and a market cap of over $118 billion, Ripple has gained a lot of attention from analysts and investors. Is Ripple similar to other cryptocurrencies, or what is it? What’s the cause of the recent fires? To find out the answers to these queries, keep reading.

1. What is Ripple?

Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb established Ripple, a provider of payment solutions. The cryptocurrencies XRP and RTXP are part of their Ripple Transaction Protocol. For financial institutions, Ripple says it can provide faster, more trustworthy, and more affordable transaction solutions. With 100 billion XRPs issued, the company is the sole owner of 61% of the total supply. A billion coins will currently be released each month according to the current plan.

2. Differences Between Ripple and Bitcoin

Blockchain technology is used by cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ripple. However, there is a key distinction between the two: Ripple is not mineable like Bitcoin. The use of the currency is restricted to the Ripple network and it is not set up to be mineable.

For the purpose of validating ledgers, both Ripple and Bitcoin use validating nodes. While Ripple has just five trusted nodes, Bitcoin has about 10,000. Nevertheless, the business intends to hire 11 more people in the upcoming 18 months. Ripple has control over the five validating nodes. XRP has drawn criticism for lacking externally reputable validators. Everyone has access to the XRP Ledger, so anyone can download it and register as a validator. On the Ripple network, a lot of businesses operate their own nodes.

3. Reasons for Recent Price Hike of Ripple

The anticipated adoption of XRP by financial institutions and investments made by “believe-the-hype” investors have a significant impact on the currency’s recent price increase. Banks have become satisfied customers of Ripple’s other products. Financial institutions favor Ripple’s xCurrent because it provides real-time communication and quick corrections, minimizing delays in bank transactions. The business intends to release xRapid, a new product that uses XRP. The new product is seen by them as a chance to persuade banks to use XRP. Investors believe that the currency has the potential to become a global financial tool for banks.

XRP, or Ripple more specifically, is a growing cryptocurrency. Due to the fact that the founding company controls its supply, it differs from the most popular digital currency, Bitcoin. In the future, Ripple expects banks to adopt it. There may be more discussions about Ripple’s suitability as a cryptocurrency asset as a result of its recent increase in value.