XRP Basics

The XRP token has a long history that actually goes back farther than the development of Bitcoin. Today, the founding company "Ripple Labs" is still the main driving force behind software development, as the XRP token sources liquidity for their bank clients - on demand in real time particularly for cross-border payments - without them having to pre-fund nostro accounts. According to Ripple Labs, when used with their products xRapid/xCurrent, this can reduce both the transaction costs and settlement times for the banks significantly.

As an investor in the XRP token, you hope to participate in Ripple's tremendous and ongoing success to sell their financial clearing solutions to banks and other financial institutions. As a digital currency itself, XRP belongs to one of the fastest and cheapest solutions for value transfer, along with several others like Stellar, Nano, and increasingly Bitcoin's Lightning Network.

Main XRP Features

  • Well managed

    Ripple is a highly professional tech company that tirelessly works for the adoption of their products even on a political level. This should also help to increase use of the XRP token.

  • Fast transactions

    Settlement time of an XRP transaction is only 4 seconds, compared to several days with a bank. XRP also compares well to most other cryptocurrencies in terms of settlement time and scaling.

  • Cheap transactions

    XRP transfers are almost free, and thus cheaper than even most other cryptocurrencies, but especially much cheaper than traditional bank transfers.

Where to buy XRP

XRP tokens can be purchased at most relevant cryptocurrency exchanges today, usually directly using Fiat (like USD or EUR) legacy currencies.

To purchase XRP tokens, you have to use an exchange service like the ones above. If you have never used an exchange before, just register at one of them - this may involve a KYC ('know your customer' / identification) process that can take a few minutes up to a few days, comparable to a registration at a legacy bank. But once you're done, you're ready to go: you can transfer USD, EUR or another currency to the exchange and then buy a number of XRP tokens. They will be deposited into the exchange's wallet first - make sure you withdraw them into your very own, personal wallet at the next chance (read below for details). Don't leave them at an exchange for longer than absolutely necessary.

XRP Wallets

In the cryptocurrencies market, there are basically 2 types of investors: HODLers (investors who don't actively trade but simply wait for the value of their tokens to increase) and traders (who try to buy/sell in order to make more money, which is quite risky). However, it's generally not a good idea to leave your tokens at the exchange - if you stop trading for a while or if you're a HODLer, make sure you withdraw them into your own, personal wallet. Here are a few wallet options:

Every new, personal XRP wallet has to be initizalized with 20 XRP tokens which you'll never get back. I know it's annoying, but see it comparable to a 'setup fee' which Ripple introduced to avoid too many unused wallets on the network.
Most people prefer the Ledger Nano S hardware wallet which is a bit expensive with around 100 USD, but easy to use via USB, and it can hold several cryptocurrencies at once. It has additional security features that make it theoretically impossible for attackers to grab your tokens.
On wallets that are permanently connected to the Internet (like on your smartphone or desktop computer), you should not keep more XRP than you can afford to lose - trojan horses may intercept your private key (the one that is used to access and recreate your wallet) and you might lose your tokens. If you want to go 100% safe, create a paper wallet, offline. You can also store your tokens at GateHub, which is an exchange service, but due to its close connection to Ripple Inc., can be considered pretty safe.

Do you want to learn more?

Beginner's Resources

Want to dig even deeper? Check out these: