About XRP
Launched in 2021, the XRP Ledger (XRPL) is an open-source, permissionless, and decentralized technology. Benefits of the XRP Ledger include its low cost ($0.0002 to transact), speed (settling transactions in 3-5 seconds), scalability (1,500 transactions per second), and inherently green attributes (carbon-neutral and energy-efficient).
The XRP Ledger also features the first decentralized exchange (DEX) and custom tokenization capabilities built into the protocol. Since 2012, the XRP Ledger has been operating reliably, having closed 70 million ledgers.
Since late 2020, Ripple Labs has been engaged in a legal battle with the SEC over whether XRP is an unregistered security. The SEC argues that XRP meets the criteria of a security based on the Howey Test.
However, Ripple contends that XRP is a currency, not a security, and should not require registration. The outcome of this high-profile lawsuit could have major implications on crypto regulations in the US.
If Ripple wins, it may weaken the SEC’s authority over cryptocurrencies. But if the SEC prevails, it could force many crypto assets to register as securities and adhere to stricter rules. The lawsuit remains ongoing with no definite resolution yet reached.
XRP Founders
In 2012, David Schwartz, Jed McCaleb, and Arthur Britto launched the XRP Ledger with its native currency, XRP, as a faster, more energy-efficient alternative to the Bitcoin blockchain. Along with Chris Larsen, they founded the company Ripple.
Unique Attributes of Ripple
The XRP Ledger presents a wide variety of applications and use cases related to payments, including micropayments, DeFi, and, soon, NFTs. Deployed in 2012, the XRPL supports enterprises and developers with powerful utility and flexibility.
Developers can access tutorials on the XRP website to help build solutions that solve inefficiencies, including remittance and asset tokenization. Currently, the main applications of the XRP Ledger are payments, tokenization, DeFi, CBDCs, and stablecoins.
Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, the XRP Ledger uses a unique Federated Consensus mechanism as its method of validating transactions. This allows the network to process transactions extremely quickly without relying on energy-intensive mining.
With Federated Consensus, transactions are confirmed through agreement between independent servers called validators. These validators continuously communicate with each other to determine the order and validity of XRP transactions.
XRP Price in AUD
The Ripple price AUD fluctuates frequently based on supply and demand. As of October 2023, the XRP price AUD is around $0.77 AUD per XRP token. This can change rapidly based on market conditions.
The total circulating supply of XRP is over 99 billion tokens, making it one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. However, unlike Bitcoin, the majority of the XRP supply is still held by the company Ripple.