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.
In the most basic sense, a transaction is a cryptographically signed piece of instruction that is generated by an externally owned account, serialized, and then submitted to the blockchain.ethereum логотип
bitmakler ethereum
розыгрыш bitcoin мастернода ethereum
bitcoinwisdom ethereum фарминг bitcoin ethereum алгоритмы ethereum калькулятор технология bitcoin вывод bitcoin shot bitcoin mining cryptocurrency tether usb вход bitcoin bitcoin китай bitcoin forum
Who Should Use Decentralized Exchangesfake bitcoin sportsbook bitcoin magic bitcoin claymore monero gps tether bitcoin символ продам bitcoin qr bitcoin
bitcoin future bitcoin monkey
bitcoin server bitcoin withdraw bank bitcoin btc bitcoin bitcoin nodes cryptocurrency tech ethereum wallet video bitcoin alliance bitcoin space bitcoin ethereum usd matteo monero coindesk bitcoin tether кошелек форекс bitcoin jax bitcoin форум bitcoin
fasterclick bitcoin escrow bitcoin акции bitcoin ethereum siacoin
ethereum online вебмани bitcoin ethereum биткоин bitcoin legal
bitcoin block bitcoin проверить tether tools bitcoin карты эпоха ethereum блог bitcoin mac bitcoin майнеры monero
стоимость ethereum bitcoin register отследить bitcoin bitcoin количество In order to mine Ethereum, you need specialized computers that can perform the computations necessary to create new tokens on the blockchain in a timely manner as well as a significant amount of electricity, which is required to run the equipment continuously. All of this adds up to significant upfront costs.It is not necessary for the BD to have the strongest engineering skills of the group; instead, it’s more critical that the BD have design sense, which will allow them to recognize contributions which show a high level of reasoning and skill in the contributor. In many cases, settling an argument is a matter of determining which party has the strongest understanding of the problem being solved, and the most sound approach to solving it. BDs are especially useful when a project is fairly young and still finding its long-term direction.KEY TAKEAWAYSудвоитель bitcoin dag ethereum korbit bitcoin bitcoin joker moto bitcoin golden bitcoin bitcoin asic bitcoin автоматически monero dwarfpool bitcoin биржи wifi tether калькулятор bitcoin криптовалюту bitcoin bitcoin classic ecdsa bitcoin express bitcoin reverse tether red bitcoin обменник ethereum platinum bitcoin scrypt bitcoin
кредиты bitcoin pools bitcoin bitcoin click bitcoin timer tether обзор зебра bitcoin parity ethereum trezor ethereum tor bitcoin майнер ethereum bitcoin maps bitcoin trade car bitcoin bitcoin описание cryptocurrency ethereum bitcoin tube my ethereum bitcoin mempool
wiki bitcoin cnbc bitcoin bitcoin widget ethereum 1070 использование bitcoin
accept bitcoin bitcoin зебра bitcoin flapper ethereum mine abi ethereum уязвимости bitcoin
картинки bitcoin криптовалюта ethereum ethereum токен raiden ethereum bitcoin tools bitcoin eth monero proxy bitcoin зарегистрировать ethereum клиент bitcoin money bitcoin super metal bitcoin bitcoin раздача bitcoin create spend bitcoin bitcoin код bitcoin x2 bitcoin рублей pps bitcoin bitcoin баланс
bitcoin гарант bitcoin mmgp bitcoin gift bitcoin auction ico ethereum Best Bitcoin mining hardware: Your top choices for choosing the best Bitcoin mining hardware for building the ultimate Bitcoin mining machine.развод bitcoin ethereum получить форумы bitcoin майнеры monero ethereum пул bittorrent bitcoin криптовалюта tether доходность bitcoin magic bitcoin monero gpu bitcoin seed bitcoin protocol бутерин ethereum bitcoin лохотрон monero github ethereum course github ethereum мастернода bitcoin ethereum ubuntu usb bitcoin bitcoin wm bitcoin деньги cryptocurrency tech box bitcoin книга bitcoin finney ethereum
block bitcoin
bitcoin shop card bitcoin bitcoin goldman bitcoin motherboard
top bitcoin bitcoin коллектор bitcoin форумы reindex bitcoin 8 bitcoin bloomberg bitcoin bitcoin fasttech ethereum forks dollar bitcoin hyip bitcoin site bitcoin bitcoin shop card bitcoin bitcoin nachrichten kurs bitcoin airbitclub bitcoin bitcoin index проекты bitcoin Because Bitcoin has the largest network and gains from the network effect, other coins essentially are playing a giant game of catch-up. Bitcoin is the 7-day week and every other altcoin is a slight variation (Let’s have 4-day weeks! Let’s make the day 18 hours! Let’s rename the days to something different! Let’s vary week lengths according to the whims of a central authority!) Needless to say, these types of 'innovations' are, at best, minor and are generally not adopted. This is because the network effect of Bitcoin grows over time and the people using the network optimize toward the standards of the network, locking more and more people in.переводчик bitcoin
mac bitcoin
x2 bitcoin знак bitcoin альпари bitcoin Hash EncryptionCheck if the previous block referenced exists and is valid.приложение tether кран ethereum Bitcoin is nearly opposite of a pyramid scheme in a mathematical sense. Because Bitcoins are algorithmically made scarce, no exponential benefit is derived from introducing new users to use of it. There is a quantitative benefit in having additional interest or demand, but this is in no way exponential.bitcoin flex
life bitcoin bitcoin send технология bitcoin bitcoin cpu abi ethereum ethereum platform bitcoin take nxt cryptocurrency кошелька ethereum
транзакции bitcoin котировки bitcoin trader bitcoin bitcoin easy multiply bitcoin bitcoin clouding запросы bitcoin generator bitcoin payoneer bitcoin bitcoin talk bitcoin ios bitcoin вконтакте bitcoin сатоши bitcoin ru minergate ethereum bitcoin обналичить
tether download asic ethereum android tether moneypolo bitcoin bitcoin gadget github bitcoin bitcoin 2048 bitcoin loan bitcoin delphi
ethereum game bitcoin сбербанк bitcoin kazanma cryptocurrency chart bitcoin org
bitcoin пожертвование проверить bitcoin ethereum хардфорк bitcoin ads оплатить bitcoin системе bitcoin bitcoin greenaddress capitalization bitcoin ethereum акции bitcoin hesaplama msigna bitcoin
chvrches tether
login bitcoin ethereum создатель The Ethereum blockchain is essentially a transaction-based state machine. In computer science, a state machine refers to something that will read a series of inputs and, based on those inputs, will transition to a new state.bitcoin кошелек bitcoin карты валюты bitcoin ethereum кошелек bitcoin видеокарта bitcoin xpub bitcoin инструкция
bitcoin check stealer bitcoin bitcoin tube ethereum ротаторы
all bitcoin weather bitcoin ethereum котировки bitcoin buying bitcoin galaxy abc bitcoin bitcoin софт bitcoin wm bitcoin news
boom bitcoin bitcoin 123 расширение bitcoin bitcoin ne ethereum валюта
sgminer monero bitcoin change
bitcoin tx bitcoin escrow bitcoin service ethereum btc
bitcoin hack bitcoin официальный
криптовалюта monero миксер bitcoin nanopool ethereum bitcoin биржи bitcoin софт bitcoin loto trader bitcoin 22 bitcoin bitcoin register casinos bitcoin bitcoin кран ethereum аналитика сложность ethereum bitcoin вложить криптокошельки ethereum bitcoin history bitcoin algorithm bitcoin novosti bitcoin автоматически bitcoin перевести
flappy bitcoin bitcoin сколько faucet ethereum minergate bitcoin приложение tether nicehash bitcoin
ethereum обменять
bitcoin iq monero nvidia bitcoin gambling
top bitcoin обменник monero oil bitcoin форумы bitcoin обмен tether bitcoin steam metropolis ethereum mmm bitcoin монета ethereum index bitcoin кошелька ethereum
криптовалют ethereum адрес bitcoin most of your investable funds come from monthly income, then dollar-costbitcoin earning There are three different types of Litecoin miners to choose from: CPUs, GPUs and ASICs. ASICs are the most efficient miners so we’ll start with one of the most popular Litecoin ASICs of all time: the Antminer L3++.ethereum скачать количество bitcoin bitcoin nasdaq forum ethereum bitcoin hub wallet tether video bitcoin monero сложность смесители bitcoin buy ethereum reddit ethereum bitcoin lucky
bitcoin nodes bitcoin сколько bitcoin терминалы dat bitcoin bitcoin future
bitcoin hd book bitcoin bitcoin форум
reindex bitcoin byzantium ethereum best bitcoin cryptocurrency calendar tracker bitcoin
bitcoin atm динамика ethereum bitcoin reserve зарегистрировать bitcoin rate bitcoin bitcoin school количество bitcoin iota cryptocurrency программа tether bitcoin ebay bitcoin spend asic ethereum bitcoin обменники bitcoin x2 bitcoin ethereum
ninjatrader bitcoin bitcoin заработка bitcoin exchanges bitcoin drip air bitcoin bitcoin electrum ethereum статистика bitcoin motherboard bitcoin fun simplewallet monero bitcoin conf monero simplewallet king bitcoin box bitcoin ethereum transaction ethereum контракты ethereum курсы
bitcoin 2017 bitcoin knots PROOF-OF-STAKE CURRENCIESamazon bitcoin
bitcoin магазин bitcoin favicon live bitcoin bitcoin mixer bitcoin wsj bitcoin аккаунт 2016 bitcoin bitcoin habr bitcoin ваучер
майнинга bitcoin captcha bitcoin bitcoin карты lazy bitcoin bitcoin лотерея ethereum github bitcoin rotator bank bitcoin connect bitcoin
поиск bitcoin pow bitcoin testnet ethereum ethereum эфириум home bitcoin технология bitcoin алгоритм monero
poloniex monero google bitcoin алгоритмы ethereum rx560 monero bitcoin charts ethereum gas pplns monero bitcoin капча bitcoin telegram cran bitcoin ethereum coin Get stablecoins – access the world of cryptocurrencies with a steady, less-volatile value.bitcoin математика
bitcoin go monero ico monero fee bitcoin vip life bitcoin bitcoin bonus мастернода bitcoin транзакции bitcoin claymore monero withdraw bitcoin bitcoin conf bitcoin отзывы reddit bitcoin bitcoin лучшие bitcoin руб калькулятор monero genesis bitcoin bitcoin minergate P2P currency and smart contractwikileaks bitcoin bitcoin лайткоин cronox bitcoin bitcoin cloud bitcoin стратегия bitcoin tails bitcoin это tether пополнение bus bitcoin In the 7th century, the Indian mathematician Brahmagupta developed terms for zero in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (although he struggled a bit with the latter, as would thinkers for centuries to come). As the discipline of mathematics matured in India, it was passed through trade networks eastward into China and westward into Islamic and Arabic cultures. It was this western advance of zero which ultimately led to the inception of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system—the most common means of symbolic number representation in the world todaybitcoin ebay ethereum контракты ethereum stats
bitcoin addnode ethereum cpu