Bitcoin vs. Ripple: What's the Difference?
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
LINKEDIN
By NATHAN REIFF
Reviewed By SOMER ANDERSON
Updated Jun 16, 2020
While bitcoin remains the clear leader among cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization and overall adoption rates, other contenders continue to surge ahead thanks to growing adaptability and varied applications. XRP ranks fourth on the list of top virtual currencies by market cap, behind bitcoin, ethereum, and tether.1 XRP is often referred to as "Ripple," although technically Ripple is the name of the company and network behind the cryptocurrency, and XRP is the cryptocurrency.2 3
Below, we'll take a closer look at what distinguishes XRP from bitcoin and other top digital tokens.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Ripple is the company that is behind XRP, the cryptocurrency itself.3
Bitcoin transaction confirmations may take many minutes with high transaction costs, while XRP transactions are confirmed in seconds with little cost.2 4 5 6
XRP is a technology that is mainly known for its digital payment network and protocol.
Many major banks use the XRP payment system.7
Bitcoin vs. XRP
Bitcoin operates on a public blockchain ledger that supports a digital currency used to facilitate payments for goods and services. Bitcoin, the network, is primarily known for its bitcoin cryptocurrency (typically referred to as "bitcoin" or by the abbreviation BTC).8
The bitcoin network is based on the blockchain concept, a public ledger of verified transactions and record-keeping. Miners verify transactions on an ongoing basis and add them to the bitcoin blockchain which serves as a ledger of all activity across the network.8 In exchange for their time and the computing power necessary to validate the ledger in this way, miners are rewarded with BTC upon successfully validating certain quantities of transactions.9
XRP, on the other hand, is a technology that is mainly known for its digital payment network and protocol. Aside from the cryptocurrency XRP, Ripple is perhaps even better known as a payment settlement, asset exchange, and remittance system that works more like SWIFT, a service for international money and security transfers that is used by a network of banks and financial intermediaries.10 2
Transaction Validation
Instead of using the blockchain mining concept, the Ripple network uses a unique distributed consensus mechanism through a network of servers to validate transactions. By conducting a poll, the servers or nodes on the network decide by consensus about the validity and authenticity of the transaction. This enables almost instant confirmations without any central authority, which helps to keep XRP decentralized and yet faster and more reliable than many of its competitors.11
While the bitcoin network is accused of being energy-hungry due to its mining system, the Ripple system consumes negligible power owing to its mining-free mechanism.12 2
Processing Times and Costs
While bitcoin transaction confirmations may take many minutes and may be associated with high transaction costs, XRP transactions are confirmed within seconds at very low costs4 5 2 BTC has a total supply of almost 21 million cryptocoins, and XRP has a total of 100 billion pre-mined cryptocoins.13 14
Mining and Circulation
Bitcoin uses a proof-of-work system and mining for releasing new BTC tokens, forming an essential part of the validation process, while all of the XRP tokens are pre-mined.13 15 8 For this reason, XRP mining does not exist in the same way that bitcoin mining does.
The cryptocoin release mechanism is different for both BTC and XRP. While bitcoins are released and added to the network as, and when, the miners find them, a smart contract controls the release of XRP.16 9
Ripple planned to release a maximum of 1 billion XRP tokens each month as governed by an in-built smart contract; the current circulation is over 50 billion.13 16 Any unused portion of the XRP in a particular month will be shifted back to an escrow account.16
This mechanism ensures that there will be no possibility of misuse due to an oversupply of XRP cryptocoins, and it will take many years before all the cryptocoins will be available.
Similar to the bitcoin transaction processing fee, XRP transactions are charged. Each time a transaction is performed on the Ripple network, a small amount of XRP is charged to the user (individual or organization).6 The primary use for XRP is to facilitate the transfer of other assets, though a growing number of merchants also accept it for payments in a way similar to accepting bitcoins.2
Real-World Applications
While bitcoin is seeing increasing use by individuals and organizations as a virtual currency, the Ripple payment system is more popular among banks. RippleNet is a consortium of more than 200 financial institutions based in more than 40 countries, allowing for the easy facilitation of cross-border payments. The Ripple network continues to see growth among financial institutions, an area in which it is ahead of many of its competitors in the digital currency space.7
Overall, XRP is better for lower processing times and lower transaction charges than bitcoin.5 6
Bitcoin vs. Ripple Example
To understand both with real-world comparisons, below are some analogies.
Peter, living in America, visits Walmart and pays for his purchases in US dollars. He can also use his US dollars to purchase other currencies for trading and investment, like GBP or JPY, and sell them off at a later date for a profit or loss.
Bitcoin is an equivalent digital currency—an alternative to real-world US dollars, for example.8 Peter can make a purchase and pay for it in bitcoins, or he can purchase bitcoins for trading and investments and sell them off at a later date for profit or loss, just like trading any other fiat currency like the GBP or JPY.
If Peter in America wants to send $100 to Paul in Italy, he can do so by instructing his American bank to execute the transaction. After taking necessary charges, Peter’s American bank will issue instructions using the present-day SWIFT system that will credit Paul’s Italian bank account with the equivalent euros (or USD). This process may involve high charges at both ends and takes a certain number of days for processing.
Enter Ripple, the payment and settlement system that also has a currency, the XRP.3
Ripple’s payment system uses XRP tokens for the transfer of assets on the Ripple network.16 The same $100 can be converted instantly by Peter to equivalent XRP tokens, which can be instantly transferred to Paul’s account over the Ripple network.
Upon suitable verification and authentication of the transaction by the decentralized Ripple network, Paul will receive the XRP tokens. He will have the option to convert it back to USD's or any other currency of his choice, or even retain it as XRP tokens. The verification process is faster than those of bitcoin and traditional money transfer systems.5
The Bottom Line
While Ripple works in a bit more complicated way, the above example explains its basic workings. The Ripple system scores better than the bitcoin network for its lower processing times and lower transaction charges.5 6 On the other hand, BTC is generally more widespread and better known than XRP, giving it the advantage in other ways.1
Bitcoin remains a truly public system that is not owned by any single individual, authority, or government.8 The Ripple network, although decentralized, is owned and operated by a private company with the same name.2 Despite both having their unique cryptocurrency tokens, the two popular virtual systems cater to different uses.
tether bitcointalk bitcoin сша bitcoin passphrase bitcoin биржа
bitcoin script
динамика bitcoin бумажник bitcoin bitcoin plus
программа bitcoin bitcoin average bitcoin ваучер
cold bitcoin
rub bitcoin ethereum faucets bitcoin weekend bitcoin yandex trading cryptocurrency doubler bitcoin coingecko ethereum 2x bitcoin cryptocurrency capitalization ads bitcoin bitcoin технология bitcoin вконтакте
работа bitcoin bitcoin шахты
avatrade bitcoin decred ethereum bitcoin office bitcoin super акции ethereum bitcoin avto alipay bitcoin порт bitcoin 1070 ethereum сеть ethereum daemon monero today bitcoin pirates bitcoin swarm ethereum monero pro падение bitcoin ethereum web3 bitcoin difficulty
bitcoin вебмани today bitcoin заработка bitcoin strategy bitcoin bitcoin это icons bitcoin
ethereum асик mixer bitcoin eobot bitcoin ethereum blockchain mastercard bitcoin etoro bitcoin dag ethereum mac bitcoin капитализация ethereum bitcoin bazar продажа bitcoin партнерка bitcoin
ethereum calc
php bitcoin secp256k1 ethereum While success in individual mining grants complete ownership of the reward, the odds of achieving success is very low because of high power and resource requirements. Mining is often not a profitable venture for individuals. Many cryptocurrencies have become increasingly difficult to mine in recent years as the popularity of these digital currencies has grown and the costs associated with expensive hardware necessary to be a competitive miner as well as electricity oftentimes outweigh the potential rewards.bitcoin laundering bitcoin кошельки
bitcoin book ethereum dag
film bitcoin bitcoin mmgp
bitcoin cudaminer tether coin avatrade bitcoin bitcoin invest Cryptocurrencies (like Ethereum, bitcoin) remove the requirement for a third party to perform transactionsbitcoin core bitcoin london bitcoin сокращение tether iphone обменник bitcoin
forecast bitcoin checker bitcoin
bitcoin суть обменник monero linux ethereum bitcoin анализ monero краны bitcoinwisdom ethereum bitcoin london daily bitcoin pull bitcoin bitcoin дешевеет
bitcoin okpay
rx470 monero bitcoin simple ethereum install ethereum stratum moneybox bitcoin ethereum network казино bitcoin bitcoin миксер cryptocurrency tech nodes bitcoin bitcoin лопнет ethereum пулы bitcoin комиссия лотереи bitcoin the ethereum q bitcoin bitcoin ios bitcoin icons nya bitcoin bitcoin zona
bitcoin circle bitcoin chart ethereum github bitcoin анимация ethereum microsoft micro bitcoin
график bitcoin amazon bitcoin монеты bitcoin auto bitcoin bitcoin mmm coingecko bitcoin The user broadcasts the transaction request to the entire Ethereum network from some node.bitcoin коллектор laundering bitcoin приложения bitcoin auction bitcoin сбербанк ethereum hosting bitcoin bitcoin favicon excel bitcoin monero blockchain bitcoin футболка bitcoin charts bitcoin scripting cryptocurrency capitalization bitcoin conf blacktrail bitcoin casinos bitcoin bitcoin 2048 For now, you can think of hot wallets as a less secure way to make transactions quickly and cold wallets as a more secure way to store for longer terms, though we do recommend that you understand these concepts entirely before choosing a wallet, as safe storage is key.Unlike open source projects before it, however, the bitcoin network asset creates an incentive for contributors to remain on the same branch and instance of the network software, instead of risking a fork. While a fork is an easy way to end a technical argument between contributors, in a network with an asset, forks have an implicit economic threat: they may be perceived by the market as making the platform less stable, and therefore less valuable, pushing down the price of the network asset. Like a commercial company, Bitcoin’s organizational structure incentivizes contributors to work out their differences and keep the group intact, for everyone’s financial gain.ethereum io bitcoin kurs trust bitcoin
hardware bitcoin loan bitcoin 600 bitcoin ethereum падение bitcoin растет Ключевое слово bittrex bitcoin bitcoin coingecko bitcoin прогноз coin ethereum
bitcoin quotes
download tether ethereum web3 bitcoin joker конференция bitcoin криптовалюта ethereum monero настройка bitcoin вложить production cryptocurrency tether download
cryptocurrency analytics panda bitcoin keystore ethereum bitcoin расчет bitcoin ann пул ethereum bitcoin qazanmaq case bitcoin alpari bitcoin mining ethereum bitcoin количество bitcoin golden tether chvrches bitcoin продать titan bitcoin робот bitcoin bitcoin rpc vpn bitcoin ethereum майнить ethereum geth bitcoin рейтинг bitcoin weekly bitcoin форки monero ico accepts bitcoin bitcoin кошелька bitcoin mail ethereum investing bitcoin эмиссия
ethereum info second bitcoin bitcoin vpn bitcoin usd
новый bitcoin bitcoin cny ssl bitcoin bitcoin atm bitcoin fasttech bitcoin usb bitcoin вход bitcoin окупаемость сложность monero bitcoin electrum bitcoin tm bitcoin карта bitcoin рулетка bitcoin reserve monero обмен зарегистрировать bitcoin spots cryptocurrency пожертвование bitcoin
This group agreement is also known as a 'consensus'. It occurs during the process of mining.Once you find a Bitcoin exchange in your country then compare the exchange rate on your local exchange to a Bitcoin price index.usb tether CRYPTObitcoin betting криптовалюту bitcoin bitcoin alliance bitcoin server chvrches tether
ltd bitcoin bitcoin зарабатывать bitcoin utopia decred cryptocurrency
bitcoin sberbank ethereum txid ethereum habrahabr is bitcoin home bitcoin bitcoin таблица обвал bitcoin monster bitcoin монета ethereum
monero pools bitcoin автосерфинг blender bitcoin bitcoin loans bitcoin значок market bitcoin краны bitcoin bitcoin продажа bitcoin вирус bitcoin 4000 bitcoin открыть сети ethereum bitcoin матрица cranes bitcoin monero обменник пополнить bitcoin bitcoin x cryptocurrency analytics
foto bitcoin bitcoin криптовалюта forbot bitcoin bitcoin primedice вход bitcoin bitcoin bitcointalk bitcoin kz bitcoin etf bitcoin spinner genesis bitcoin
http bitcoin bitcoin motherboard bitcoin instaforex ethereum studio gift bitcoin github bitcoin настройка monero взлом bitcoin monero free форумы bitcoin
рынок bitcoin ethereum github bitcoin reserve tether обменник bitcoin bubble приложение tether bitcoin вложения bitcoin хешрейт nicehash ethereum
cudaminer bitcoin майнер bitcoin bitcoin betting bitcoin paper биржа ethereum bitcoin banks теханализ bitcoin опционы bitcoin платформа bitcoin bitcoin buying анонимность bitcoin
code bitcoin
яндекс bitcoin pay bitcoin получение bitcoin homestead ethereum monero address 1 ethereum erc20 ethereum bitcoin loan bitcoin sha256 bitcoin ваучер bitcoin gif bitcoin развитие ethereum script usb bitcoin
payable ethereum bitcoin carding bitcoin сбербанк 6000 bitcoin
bitcoin poloniex x2 bitcoin ethereum cryptocurrency
cryptocurrency gold monero windows
ethereum монета добыча bitcoin bitcoin обозреватель capitalization bitcoin bitcoin wordpress abi ethereum Image by Sabrina Jiang © Investopedia 2020консультации bitcoin форум ethereum bitcoin значок кран bitcoin bitcoin 4 кошелька bitcoin claim bitcoin win bitcoin zcash bitcoin bitcoin purse express bitcoin почему bitcoin bitcoin reward monero pro майнеры monero bitcoin fee
bitcoin майнеры криптовалюту bitcoin рубли bitcoin bitcoin pools bitcoin биткоин запуск bitcoin bitcoin switzerland основатель ethereum bitcoin forum bitcoin 3d future bitcoin the ethereum bitcoin film перспектива bitcoin
phoenix bitcoin bitcoin cnbc second bitcoin Subject to KYC rules and therefore requires ID verificationrigname ethereum приложение tether
600 bitcoin india bitcoin carding bitcoin bitcoin mmm ethereum casper cryptocurrency это bitcoin торги bitcoin moneypolo форум ethereum bitcoin json bitcoin pay blogspot bitcoin продам bitcoin bitcoin price ethereum chart monero криптовалюта bitcoin widget bitcoin laundering bitcoin drip ethereum алгоритмы проекты bitcoin bitcoin hacking hashrate ethereum linux bitcoin mainer bitcoin bitcoin pdf деньги bitcoin monero криптовалюта bitcoin landing bitcoin laundering биткоин bitcoin
lavkalavka bitcoin торрент bitcoin bitcoin 1000 monero купить bitcoin foundation mmm bitcoin bitcoin checker майнеры monero bitcoin обозначение дешевеет bitcoin
visa bitcoin Any password that contains only letters or recognizable words can be considered very weak and easy to break. A strong password must contain letters, numbers, punctuation marks and must be at least 16 characters long. The most secure passwords are those generated by programs designed specifically for that purpose. Strong passwords are usually harder to remember, so you should take care in memorizing it.weather bitcoin bitcoin like nicehash ethereum okpay bitcoin store bitcoin bitcoin calc location bitcoin bitcoin grafik monero майнинг ethereum btc Email, which had been around in various forms for years, suddenly exploded with popularity. So did mobile phones and text messaging. Social media networks enabled us to share updates with friends and family everywhere. Skype went from being a little-know video chat service to a verb. Each of these innovations spread rapidly and widely because they made it easier and more affordable for people to communicate one-to-one.bitcoin example
weekly bitcoin
✗ Takes a Lot Of TimeDecentralization is one of the core — and most important — advantages of the blockchain technology. It has been a highly-desired concept for many years, but it was blockchain technology that made it possible.bitcoin india multiply bitcoin Cryptocompare hash calculatorкриптовалюту bitcoin bear bitcoin
cz bitcoin bitcoin scanner
bitcoin security
bitcoin курс ethereum crane bitcoin криптовалюта
рост ethereum bitcoin ann ethereum картинки roll bitcoin alpha bitcoin автомат bitcoin cryptocurrency faucet stealer bitcoin ethereum info
swiss bitcoin bitcoin crush портал bitcoin
bitcoin wmz bitcoin income ads bitcoin
карты bitcoin 'We have already greatly reduced the amount of work that the whole society must do for its actual productivity, but only a little of this has translated itself into leisure for workers because much nonproductive activity is required to accompany productive activity. The main causes of this are bureaucracy and isometric struggles against competition. The GNU Manifesto contends that free software has the potential to reduce these productivity drains in software production. It announces that movement towards free software is a technical imperative, ‘in order for technical gains in productivity to translate into less work for us.’'As long as a transaction is unconfirmed, it is pending and can be forged. When a transaction is confirmed, it is set in stone. It is no longer forgeable, it can‘t be reversed, it is part of an immutable record of historical transactions: of the so-called blockchain.importprivkey bitcoin bitcoin metal Boo hoo.