Ripple Coin (XRP) is one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap. The currency token is XRP. Ripple is establishing itself as a leader in helping banks process cross-border payments faster, which is becoming a more critical pain point around the world. This post discusses how to buy ripple coins, a step-by-step guide.
While overall ripple price has gone down compared to the price in January and December last year, the cryptocurrency has shown resilience and has retained investor interest, especially due to its various planned partnerships with renowned financial institutions worldwide.
What is Ripple?
Ripple is a currency exchange, real-time gross settlement system, and remittance network. Ripple is also called the Ripple Transaction Protocol (RTXP) or Ripple protocol. It is built on a distributed open-source Internet protocol, consensus ledger, and native cryptocurrency called XRP (ripple). Released in 2012, Ripple enabled “secure, instant and nearly free global financial transactions of any size with no chargebacks.”
Ripple controls three distinct parts that form the Ripple Network (RippleNet): xRapid, xCurrent, and xVia.
Ripple’s xCurrent allows banks to message and transfer funds across the globe on a single, standard protocol. It’s an improvement on today’s system, where different international payments systems require pre-funded accounts and artificial liquidity windows. Banks cannot send payment via xCurrent until their customer sends a payment first. This protects the bank from liquidity risk.
XRapid is a liquidity solution that allows transacting parties to transfer varying currencies (fiat and XRP) between each other. XRapid provides on-demand liquidity solutions to financial institutions that solve the problems of interoperability, latency, and high costs for cross-border payments. The main advantage it offers over XRP’s previous xCurrent service is that no pre-funded accounts are required to transfer value.
x Via
xVia is a payment interface designed to offer RippleNet users a more intuitive user experience. The xVia API was created for developers to include both xCurrent and xRapid transactions within their applications.
How Does the Ripple (XRP) Ledger Work?
The XRP Ledger is an open-source, peer-to-peer payment network based on a shared, public database (the “ledger”) that can process virtual currency transactions without needing a central authority.
The ledger uses a consensus algorithm to facilitate secure, authenticated transactions between two parties. XRP tokens are created by the network to incentivize certain behaviors of the participants, such as validating transactions.
In its current form, the XRP Ledger is used primarily as a “bridge” currency for exchanges between other currencies, without requiring users to hold other assets such as Bitcoin. For example, if someone wanted to send money from a wallet associated with US dollars to a wallet associated with Yen, they could use Ripple Coin to make that happen seamlessly and instantly at a very low cost.
To obtain Ripple Coin (XRP), the native currency of the XRP Ledger network, you would have to purchase it from an exchange or directly from Ripple (formerly OpenCoin). There is no mining involved in obtaining XRP tokens.
Pros and Cons of Using Ripple Coin (XRP)
There are many pros and cons of using Ripple Coin (XRP). Some benefit the user, while others may not be as favorable. It is important to understand both of these to have an informed opinion.
Pros
Transactions
Transactions are irreversible, which means that they cannot be reversed or modified once issued. However, if the transaction turns out to be malicious or fraudulent, it can be deleted from the network, and the person who sent it can be blacklisted to prevent any further interaction with other users. The time taken for a transaction to get confirmed depends on how much mining power is put behind confirming it. The more mining power backing up a transaction, the faster it gets confirmed.
Speed
XRP is touted to be capable of processing 1,500 transactions per second (TPS) and can handle up to 50 times more transactions than Bitcoin (BTC). It processes global payments within four seconds, faster than it takes for an international bank transfer to clear.
XRP Fees
Like the other major cryptocurrencies, XRP fees are negligible compared to traditional cross-border payment services such as SWIFT or Western Union.
Security
Unlike most cryptocurrencies that use Proof of Work (PoW) or Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus protocols, Ripple uses a unique consensus protocol called Ripple Protocol Consensus Algorithm (RPCA) , which utilizes a Hash Tree structure called Unique Node List (UNL). It helps prevent network centralization that may lead to security or theft.
Eco-Friendly
Ripple’s XRP Ledger Consensus Protocol utilizes multiple independent transaction validators to confirm transactions. It creates ledgers that use negligible energy resources compared to other methods like Proof of Work (PoW) which requires large amounts of computational power.
Cons
Limited business partnerships
Ripple only works with certain banks and financial institutions. While it works with some of the biggest ones, it does not have the market share of its competitors.
Resistance from banks
The global banking system relies on SWIFT for payments between banks and other financial institutions. There is no reason for them to change anytime soon. Banks would have to invest in new infrastructure to use Ripple’s blockchain technology, which could prove cost-prohibitive.
Despite these cons, Ripple and XRP bring significant value to the financial payment world. As an investor, there are many use cases for XRP, including trading or as a channel for value transfer. Read on to discover how to buy Ripple Coin (XRP) and start using Ripple.
How to buy Ripple Coin (XRP) – A step-by-step guide
You can buy XRP in five simple steps as follows:
- Select a crypto exchange that lists and supports XRP
- Create a personal exchange account
- Craft an XRP investment strategy
- Fund your exchange account
- Buy Ripple Coin (XRP).
The steps are explained in detail below:
Step 1 – Select a crypto exchange that lists and supports Ripple Coin (XRP)
Ripple, the company that created the XRP crypto, has been involved in a legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since late 2017. The SEC is accusing Ripple of selling unregistered securities to retail buyers in its fundraising efforts.
In its defense, Ripple says that XRP is not a security because it’s a currency. It’s listed on CoinMarketCap as a currency, not a cryptocurrency or digital asset. But the SEC disagrees and is taking the company to court for its decision to classify XRP as a security.
Although the legal battle is ongoing, buying Ripple Coin (XRP) in many jurisdictions worldwide is legal. The following are credible crypto exchanges to acquire Ripple Coin (XRP).
Binance is one of the most popular crypto exchanges in the world and is known for its low fees (0.05% per trade) and high liquidity. The exchange currently supports XRP trading and has posted impressive numbers in the past few months. It has a 24-hour volume of $ 25,150,998,465 worth of daily trades.
This exchange offers Ripple Coin (XRP) for both fiat and cryptocurrencies. It is one of the largest exchanges in Japan. It supports eight fiat currencies, including the Japanese yen (JPY), the Australian dollar (AUD), and the euro (EUR). You can also buy Ripple Coin (XRP) using bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), or NEM (XEM).
Uphold is a multi-asset platform that supports various currencies and cryptocurrencies. The settlement times are fast, and the platform is user-friendly, making it an ideal place to store your digital assets. Furthermore, fiat conversions are supported on the platform, which is useful if you want to trade Ripple Coin (XRP) for other cryptocurrencies.
Step 2 – Create a personal exchange account
You need to create an account with your crypto exchange of choice for first-timers before getting started. The process is explained below:
Sign up – enter your name, username. Phone number, email address, and password. You can use an online-based password generator to create a strong password for your trading account.
Verification – Centralized exchanges now require users to supply personally identifiable information to increase users’ account security and adhere to global KYC (know your customer) regulations.
After creating your account, it’s time to buy Ripple Coin (XRP) XRP. However, we advise that you create an XRP investment strategy before doing that.
Step 3 – Craft an XRP investment strategy
Whether you plan on buying early-stage companies, precious metals, stocks, or crypto, it is important to determine what you will buy, the frequency, and the quantity.
In addition, you need to define your investing goals to help you determine why you are investing in an asset and when you plan to exit a holding position.
An effective investment strategy will contain the following:
• Your investment goals
• Investment philosophy and
• Investment particulars (a list of assets to buy, when, and why).
An excellent example of an XRP investment plan is:
Goal: Triple my investment
Asset: Ripple Coin (XRP)
Amount to buy: $ 15,000 worth of XRP
Investment strategy to use: Dollar-cost averaging
Investment: 2 years or as soon as ROI is attained.
Step 4 – Fund your exchange account
Funding your online trading account can be as easy as depositing cash into a bank account if the broker you choose accepts this method. However, crypto exchanges support payment methods that meet their user’s needs.
Before settling for a crypto trading exchange, determine the payment methods it supports and if this option works for you. The following are some of the common payment methods on most exchanges:
• Crypto deposits
• SWIFT transfers
• SEPA deposits
• Wire transfers
• Bank transfers
These funding channels charge varying transaction fees. Debit / credit cards are the most expensive method, but it is also the most direct and fastest. This is because you do not have to first deposit in your account; instead, you will be buying Ripple Coin directly.
Conclusion
We hope this beginner’s guide to buying Ripple Coin (XRP) has been helpful for understanding and navigating the Ripple ecosystem. Even though it is still in its early stages, there are already endless possibilities for exchanges, wallets, and more to be built around it.
Despite its challenges with the US SEC, Ripple is unrelenting in innovating new ways to make international payments easier. As discussed, Ripple ledger and its XRP cryptocurrency offer many benefits to users, such as eco-friendliness, cheap costs, and fast confirmation times.
We have also discussed the common payment methods on most exchanges. Tinker with the options and figure out what works best for you or reach out to the exchange’s official service support to help you.