Ripple is the project behind the cryptocurrency called XRP, but the way it works and runs is very different from other currencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin. Ripple does not rely on a lot of energy to be mined in order to work or create more ripple. It is an energy friendly crypto. Ripple is more focused in helping banks and financial institutions move money faster at a smaller fee. Ripple is very much into making cross border transactions cheaper and faster.
Ripple has been helping banks connect to each other via its network like how Visa and Mastercard connect banks worldwide. Since Mastercard and Visa connected worldwide banks, all we need is a credit or debit card to spend money at anywhere in the world that accepts Visa or Mastercard. 15 of the 50 biggest banks use Ripple to move money around the world. Even American Express has partnerred with Ripple. Furthermore, Ripple combines cryptocurrency and traditional banking by using its own currency as a go between to exchange dollars and pounds in to cryptocurrencies. This has improved traditional banking till many banks around the world are adopting Ripple.
Ripple has super fast transactions. It only takes 3.3 seconds for a transaction to be confirmed which is better than Bitcoin with a time of 45 minutes. Ripple can process 1500 transactions per second the same as Visa, Bitcoin could just do 16 per second. It’s a lot cheaper for banks to move money using Ripple than using existing technology. A transaction on Ripple could cost as low as 0.00001 XRP which is not even $0.01.
Ripple uses uses less power because no mining takes place, it’s more energy efficient. With climate change booming, energy efficient technologies are most welcomed. Ripple centralised where banks act as nodes on the network, giving them more control over transactions. This makes it almost impossible for money laundering because banks can monitor every transaction.
Since Ripple has all these plus points why not it overtake Visa or Mastercard? It is a great technology which is always being improved. Moreover, more banks are adopting ripple worldwide. If this trend continues, Ripple can become a worldwide accepted payment like Visa and Mastercard. Maybe we would have bank cards with a ripple logo and its chip would have our ripple address and ripple private key. Ripple has the potential to encourage consumers to spend more as it is so easy to use Ripple.
Ripple wants to help the banking industry move money as quickly and simply as sending someone an email. The company’s focus is to bring all the world’s big banks on to the platform. The future of XRP meanwhile is less certain, but if Ripple does become the platform banks do business online it’s currency will be tied to that success. Hopefully in the future we would have bank cards with ripple logo on it. Imagine shopping with a Ripple card.
