It is commonly accepted, that the idea of cryptocurrency was shaped by the appearence of Bitcoin. But when you take a closer look at the history of virtual currencies, you will see that a cryptocurrency older that Bitcoin exists and functions. It’s called Ripple, and by bringing together the original idea and the modern technology, it became the centre of attention of worldly investors.

The first cryptocurrency? Meet Ripple

According to official information, Bitcoin was created in 2008, and this year is considered to be the birth of cryptocurrencies. But not many know that RipplePlay, which was used as a basis for creating Ripple, was launched back in 2004.

The creator of RipplePlay is Ryan Fugger, a Canadian developer, who was driven by one idea – to program a virtual system for value exchange to be used by local communities. To this end Fuegger’s team developed an IOU (I Owe You) model, enabling transactions to be instantly done and accounted for, due to a network of mutual financial obligations between trusted people. And although it was not intended for fund transfer but for noting debts, the RipplePay was similar to the model of bank transfers in micro-scale, meant for individual people. The same idea was used in the developing of Bitcoin’s system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2YHhLkOO9g

Not too long after that the original objectives of RipplePay proved to be a hit, and the sudden cryptocurrency boom was the incentive for developing the Ripple system.

The original idea and modern technology

Cryptocurrency Ripple is a developed platform for dealing with settlements in real-time, which makes this work system resembles a semi-decentralized transaction network based on blockchain technology.

Ripple’s system enables making transactions with the use of other cryptocurrencies or investment assets, which makes this e-coin stand out. It’s made possible thanks to xRapid and xVia systems. The first one is an accounting network made for banks to enable instant transfers, and the other is a banking terminal for connecting to the Ripple network.

The modern system of the Canadian cryptocurrency is readily adapted mostly by international corporations, worldwide banks and governments of some of the most powerful countries, as they see it as a profitable investment and an excellent way to transfer funds.

From micro to macro community – the growth of Ripple

Currently Ripple is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies available on the cryptomarket. Its development team is composed of specialists from all over the world, with offices in the US, England, Australia, Singapore and Luxembourgh. This e-coin is being used by the biggest banks, corporations and governments in the world, and invested in by government and private investors. It’s also one of the few cryptocurrencies with unchangeably strong presence on the cryptomarket. Which begs the question – how was this achieved?

The biggest breakthrough for Ripple was bringing the plan to make an autonomous  accounting unit system based on blockchain technology to life, thanks to which the e-coin was supposed to be faster, more efficient and less energy-consuming than Bitcoin.

To this end, in 2012 began the work on Ripple Transaction Protocol, which evolved into the XRP cryptocurrency and then into Ripple Labs. The works of the cryptocurrency quickly grabbed the attention of Venture Capital Google and Andreessen Horowitz companies, German Fidor bank and Earthport partnership. Thanks to this, Ripple Labs could quickly evolve into the Ripple we know today, so one of the most advanced cryptocurrencies based on blockchain technology, providing the best scalability, able to complete 1.5 thousands of trasactions per second, and accepting 50 thousands of transactions at the same time. Visa is the only other payment network that has similar potential.

Because of its potential, this American cryptocurrency is used by the biggest corporations, international banks, worldwide organisations and governments of various countries. Thanks to lucrative contracts and a stable development budget, the Ripple team can constantly upgrade their cryptocurrency, making it one of the leaders of the market. What’s interesting is that Ripple is also very popular on the cryptomarket, as private investors see it as a lucrative investment.