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.
расчет bitcoin cryptocurrency tech фото bitcoin cryptocurrency wallet ethereum игра miner monero bitcoin antminer love bitcoin lealana bitcoin genesis bitcoin tether bootstrap бутерин ethereum хайпы bitcoin ethereum habrahabr прогнозы bitcoin ethereum падение raiden ethereum gui monero ethereum rig книга bitcoin
rocket bitcoin
ethereum стоимость
программа tether multiplier bitcoin автоматический bitcoin How does the network encourage miners to participate in maintaining the blockchain? Again, taking Bitcoin as an example, the network holds a lottery in which all the mining rigs around the world race to become the first to solve a math problem, which also verifies and updates the blockchain with new transactions. Each winner is awarded new bitcoin, which can then make its way into the broader marketplace.Ethereum is a permissionless, non-hierarchical network of computers (nodes) which build and come to consensus on an ever-growing series of 'blocks', or batches of transactions, known as the blockchain. Each block contains an identifier of the block that it must immediately follow in the chain if it is to be considered valid. Whenever a node adds a block to its chain, it executes the transactions therein in their order, thereby altering the ETH balances and other storage values of Ethereum accounts. These balances and values, collectively known as the state, are maintained on the node's computer separately from the blockchain, in a Merkle Patricia tree.bitcoin hunter doubler bitcoin disparate, nodes would not accept any compromise to the integrity of their bread and butter.bitcoin презентация
bitcoin click polkadot su брокеры bitcoin tether apk algorithm bitcoin tether кошелек cudaminer bitcoin
новые bitcoin
ninjatrader bitcoin сборщик bitcoin bitcoin in ethereum график ethereum twitter monero dwarfpool bitcoin карта homestead ethereum ethereum gold ethereum online bitcoin word monero freebsd бесплатный bitcoin bitcoin daemon
in bitcoin bitcoin crush bitcoin математика bitcoin добыть bitcoin mt4 bitcoin доходность favicon bitcoin bitcoin auto alpari bitcoin обналичить bitcoin lamborghini bitcoin 4Referencesbitcoin коды strategy bitcoin отзыв bitcoin lite bitcoin But with the benefit of this hindsight, one can wonder—why this delay?10'Everyone wants to get rich quick, and so long as there is money, there will also be alchemists.'bitcoin окупаемость bitcoin books mmm bitcoin bitcoin hesaplama ethereum хардфорк bitcoin birds
rate bitcoin gui monero
2018 bitcoin bitcoin конференция trader bitcoin майн ethereum bitcoin info view bitcoin ethereum course bitcoin стоимость bitcoin экспресс bitcoin space проверить bitcoin bitcoin видео monero продать cryptocurrency forum
стратегия bitcoin bitcoin multisig bitcoin халява top bitcoin bitcoin fees bitcoin credit tcc bitcoin ecdsa bitcoin bitcoin protocol
money bitcoin ethereum настройка konverter bitcoin прогноз ethereum Bitcoin is a digital currency, a decentralized system which records transactions in a distributed ledger called a blockchain.bitcoin machine bitcoin faucet doge bitcoin bitcoin paw bitcoin s total cryptocurrency bitcoin bio доходность ethereum the ethereum bux bitcoin bitcoin обменник проекты bitcoin торговать bitcoin
значок bitcoin вклады bitcoin ethereum asics bitcoin заработка bitcoin com bitcoin png ann ethereum bitcoin metatrader 1024 bitcoin bitcoin dollar monero bitcointalk bitcoin usd monero hardfork bcn bitcoin bitcoin services magic bitcoin сети ethereum bitcoin antminer donate bitcoin запуск bitcoin bitcoin скрипты keystore ethereum monero пул серфинг bitcoin ethereum browser bitcoin instant 2. Litecoin (LTC)Lightning Network is a micropayment solution based on the Bitcoin protocol. It aims to enable near-instant and low-cost payments between merchants and customers that use Bitcoin.Specifically, Lightning Network aims to enable near-instant and low-cost payments between merchants and customers that wish to use bitcoins.Lightning Network was conceptualized in a whitepaper by Joseph Poon and Thaddeus Dryja in 2015. Since then, it has been implemented by multiple companies. The most prominent of them include Blockstream, Lightning Labs, and ACINQ.For a list of curated resources relevant to Lightning Network, please visit this link.In the Lightning Network, if a customer wishes to transact with a merchant, both of them need to open a payment channel, which operates off the Bitcoin blockchain (i.e., off-chain vs. on-chain). None of the transaction details from this payment channel are recorded on the blockchain. Hence, only when the channel is closed will the end result of both party’s wallet balances be updated to the blockchain. The blockchain only serves as a settlement layer for Lightning transactions.Since all transactions done via the payment channel are conducted independently of the Nakamoto consensus, both parties involved in transactions do not need to wait for network confirmation on transactions. Instead, transacting parties would pay transaction fees to Bitcoin miners only when they decide to close the channel.игра ethereum
CRYPTObitcoin wm bitcoin сложность What’s the common thread? Is there any particular fatal flaw of Bitcoin that explains why no one but Satoshi came up with it?ethereum eth monero cpuminer bitcoin адрес фри bitcoin bitcoin ads dollar bitcoin bitcoin 1070 secp256k1 ethereum
bitcoin code rotator bitcoin токен ethereum bitcoin 10 blitz bitcoin ethereum хешрейт bitcoin программирование rotator bitcoin bit bitcoin bitcoin life ru bitcoin cz bitcoin mooning bitcoin куплю ethereum abi ethereum byzantium ethereum bitcoin poloniex
cryptocurrency charts
google bitcoin стоимость bitcoin claymore monero
monero windows сбербанк bitcoin bitcoin спекуляция расчет bitcoin
bitcoin bitminer wifi tether usa bitcoin swarm ethereum
mine ethereum wei ethereum monero прогноз bitrix bitcoin bitcoin journal bitcoin описание playstation bitcoin ethereum swarm bitcoin автокран bitcoin шахта bitcoin удвоитель bitcoin future
bitcoin mt4 lootool bitcoin cudaminer bitcoin The sixth lesson of the blockchain tutorial explores in detail the similarities and differences between two types of cryptocurrencies - Bitcoin and Ethereum. The lesson starts with a recap of what cryptocurrency is and how it differs from the traditional currency system. You will learn about the definition and features of both Bitcoin and Ethereum. ethereum контракты ethereum stats
bitcoin addnode Hash Rate- 575 H/sbitcoin flex blogspot bitcoin bitcoin официальный plus500 bitcoin автомат bitcoin ethereum stats habrahabr bitcoin rx580 monero
grayscale bitcoin pokerstars bitcoin byzantium ethereum бизнес bitcoin bitcoin pizza bitcoin new bitcoin monkey blake bitcoin bitcoin base bitcoin qr bitcoin перевод GETTYbitcoin fields bitcoin кран hosting bitcoin шахта bitcoin ● Crossing the Chasm: Bitcoin has gained credibility with early adopters, including someHash Encryptionпокер bitcoin tether верификация
bitcoin debian up bitcoin coindesk bitcoin настройка monero kaspersky bitcoin bitcoin nvidia putin bitcoin bitcoin usa bot bitcoin ethereum erc20 ethereum web3
q bitcoin программа tether ethereum ann faucet bitcoin bitcoin чат logo ethereum запросы bitcoin ethereum contracts курсы bitcoin ethereum настройка обменник ethereum bitcoin alert The world is clearly divided when it comes to cryptocurrencies. On one side are supporters such as Bill Gates, Al Gore and Richard Branson, who say that cryptocurrencies are better than regular currencies. On the other side are people such as Warren Buffet, Paul Krugman, and Robert Shiller, who are against it. Krugman and Shiller, who are both Nobel Prize winners in the field of economics, call it a Ponzi scheme and a means for criminal activities.сделки bitcoin agario bitcoin перспективы bitcoin фермы bitcoin терминал bitcoin bitcoin flex bitcoin xpub кран bitcoin
make bitcoin wallet cryptocurrency wikipedia cryptocurrency
amd bitcoin bitcoin knots эмиссия ethereum asics bitcoin bitcoin new bitcoin форекс bitcoin 1000 bitcoin forecast iso bitcoin
bitcoin scrypt
bitcoin сатоши основатель ethereum txid ethereum After 2.5 minutes, the miners have now solved the puzzle, confirmed all the transactions in that block, and Bob now has his funds. It’s as simple as that!криптовалюты bitcoin tether майнить bitcoin покупка ютуб bitcoin bitcoin calculator plus bitcoin и bitcoin bitcoin раздача bitcoin 2020 bitcoin кэш bitcoin pools
bitcoin arbitrage калькулятор bitcoin monero fr bitcoin бесплатно poloniex monero кликер bitcoin bitcoin api your bitcoin bitcoin blocks карты bitcoin системе bitcoin
bitcoin переводчик
bitcoin магазины best bitcoin purchase bitcoin ethereum addresses bitcoin block simple bitcoin bitcoin official
bounty bitcoin local bitcoin bitcoin сборщик ethereum dark testnet bitcoin bitcoin деньги bitcoin com abi ethereum
bitcoin json txid bitcoin machine bitcoin калькулятор monero bitcoin видеокарты bitcoin минфин доходность bitcoin
bitcoin обои сайты bitcoin bitcoin mine site bitcoin bitcoin favicon bitcoin testnet адрес bitcoin bitcoin de The Ethereum protocol was originally conceived as an upgraded version of a cryptocurrency, providing advanced features such as on-blockchain escrow, withdrawal limits, financial contracts, gambling markets and the like via a highly generalized programming language. The Ethereum protocol would not 'support' any of the applications directly, but the existence of a Turing-complete programming language means that arbitrary contracts can theoretically be created for any transaction type or application. What is more interesting about Ethereum, however, is that the Ethereum protocol moves far beyond just currency. Protocols around decentralized file storage, decentralized computation and decentralized prediction markets, among dozens of other such concepts, have the potential to substantially increase the efficiency of the computational industry, and provide a massive boost to other peer-to-peer protocols by adding for the first time an economic layer. Finally, there is also a substantial array of applications that have nothing to do with money at all.bitcoin prune bitcoin transaction equihash bitcoin bitcoin x 👋bitcoin математика ann ethereum bitcoin gold cryptocurrency wallets bitcoin дешевеет keystore ethereum bitcoin android neo bitcoin bitcoin страна cryptocurrency trading график bitcoin bitcoin блок bitcoin classic forecast bitcoin china cryptocurrency bitcoin котировки gadget bitcoin boxbit bitcoin проверка bitcoin fee bitcoin bitcoin cards segwit bitcoin токены ethereum bitcoin monkey