How To Invest In Ripple (XRP): Step-By-Step Beginner’s Guide

Any crypto entrepreneur knows about Ripple. The coin became a mainstream topic in the crypto trading realm. At least once, any investor dared to buy XRP. The coin has become number 2 crypto for a short period of time. Last year, its worth was $0.20 and now it’s over $0.71 per coin and keeps rising. There are many interesting things about this venture. So, get ready to find out pretty much everything about it as well as its founders, developments, interesting partnerships, and perspectives for you. Let’s get busy! 

What Is Ripple Coin (XRP)?

Let’s make things clear first. Ripple is a company, XRP is its coin. We’ll talk about the coin in this chapter. The token is vital to the purposes existing in the ripple Ecosystem. If you’re willing to use its utilities, this digital asset is exactly for that – it’s a utility token. It positions as the transfer of value throughout the whole Network.

For exchanges, the coin’s role is mediating. They can comprise both crypto money and fiat one. Basically, XRP is a wild card of sorts. Thus, involved banks are allowed to transfer money worldwide without factoring in exchange rates and so on. 

To illustrate, a bank in the States is about to send $10 million to a European one, located somewhere in France. Ordinarily, as it still happens today, this transfer takes too much time and costs. First and foremost, the money has to pass through multiple third-party validation systems to get to the needed destination securely.

Every single transaction related to this process comes with a fee, making up the total cost. It takes time as well. Besides, banks always factor in the international conversion rate. In the case provided, an American bank will lose when making the conversion to Euros. 

This is where XRP comes in handy as a utility coin. So, if you strive to buy XRP, you should know its potential. Had this all been through the Ripple Ecosystem (processes described previously), it would be smoother. The US bank would need simply to convert its funds to XRP. It’s just a matter of clicking a button. 

So, when fiat currency is ‘turned’ into XRP,  there’s no problem transferring the funds to any place globally. The greatest thing about it is that transfer commissions are way less than the ones of the traditional systems. For example, sending 1billion dollars via a traditional bank will cost thousands of dollars. With Ripple, the same transaction will take cents.

Furthermore, there’s no limit for XRP transfers, making the token a flexible solution for banks worldwide. At present, transferring over $1million obliges banks to meet several state control requirements. The latter postpone the delivery for up to 3 days. The coin addresses these inconveniences inside its Ripple network. Therefore, as you can see, if you buy XRP, you know you’re investing in a coin that has a strong project behind it. 

How Ripple Is Different from Other cryptocurrencies?

Ripple stands out in the crowd of its counterparts like Bitcoin and Litecoin. First, it was developed by a private, profit-driven organization. When it saw the world, 100 billion XRP were issued to the market. Herewith, 20 billion belonged to the creators and the rest – to Ripple Labs. To secure participants’ stability in the marketplace, the latter has since put 55 billion XRP in an escrow account. 

What’s interesting, that Ripple was dubbed a Bitcoin killer at the time. But to be honest, it’s only now that traders wonder more than ever before on how to buy XRP. This is because the coin is becoming mainstream in the crypto world and among cryptocurrency ninjas. The token skyrocketed in terms of worth but still is quite cheap.

Now, a few words about Ripple Labs because it’s integral to the coin. The name is an official one of the tech company that elaborated the same name payment protocol. It was created in 2012 in San Francisco. Its previous name known on the market was Opencoin. In 2015, they had their company rebranded.  

Ripple Labs is a fruit of two geniuses – Chris Larsen and Jed Mccaleb. The first founder is famous for its investing background and the co-foundation of E-loan, a web service providing mortgage loans. Jed Mccaleb is a great programmer and digital entrepreneur. Therefore, it’s a great combo for a successful venture. 

Jed got his reputation for rolling out Mt.Gox exchange, one of the first Bitcoin and largest ones. At some point, the exchange carried 70% of all coin trading worldwide. In June 2011, there was a hack attack sending BTC prices downward. But by this time, Jed had sold his shares and was not associated with the business. Yet, the guy knows all the angles of the business.  

Is XRP a good investment? Well, decide on your own, but one thing is pretty clear here – the project has two great brainiacs behind it.

Read XRP prices ‘pump and dump’ as Ripple use defense strategy

Why to buy XRP? Is Ripple a good investment?

If you have this intention to buy XRP, there are a few facts you need to know about it. The crypto has all the chances to become a means of liquidity necessary to streamline standard, regulated payments. The company provides services to more than 300 financial organizations worldwide in 40 countries, with XRP as a mediator. Thus, the crypto is not going to disappear anytime soon.  

The token serves RippleNet, the ecosystem of banks, professionals, financial institutions that all together constitute its community. The team worked super hard to build it up and staff with pros in the field. These companies are particularly interested in using Ripple’s innovative blockchain system. Within the network, banks transfer funds across countries in seconds.  

At present, the network includes giants in the sector. These are Bank of America, Standard Chartered Bank, SBI Holdings, Santander and American Express, Royal Bank of Canada, MoneyGram, and others. They say “a man is known by the company he keeps”. Well, it looks like the company is awesome here, making the question “how to buy XRP” a number one amongst traders. 

Another aspect to cover here is Ripple Protocol Consensus Algorithm. Did you know that this crypto came without a blockchain? Perhaps, you used to think that blockchains are integral to all cryptos. But Ripple proves the opposite. It exploits an exclusive decentralization technology and consensus mechanism – the Ripple Protocol Consensus Algorithm (RPCA). 

All nodes use it every few seconds to keep the accuracy and unity within the network. According to this protocol, every server releases a list of ongoing transactions to the network. One can find it under the name the “candidate set”.

Next, every server assesses its list against the present state of the network and the modifications suggested. Finally, 80% of the nodes have to approve new transactions. The system then includes them in the shared ledger, had they proved to meet mentioned requirements. After that, the system terminates the ledger. This closed one represents a point of reference when needing to check the following RPCA. 

Where can you buy XRP?

The best places to buy Ripple are cryptocurrency exchanges. There are a lot of them out there. But here are some aspects to factor in:

• easy and user-friendly interface because you don’t want to spend tons of time figuring out how it all works
• impeccable security system that combines safety protocols and respect for your privacy 
• a big pool of cryptocurrencies that is constantly growing
• lowest fees on the market
• location-related exchange will be a plus since some cryptos are unavailable for USA residents on some platforms

To buy XRP with fiat currency, you need to find an exchange that offers the fastest credit card processing. You’ll need to associate your bank account or credit card to your exchange account. This might be time-consuming since some portals ask for the confirmation from the bank. 

As for the costs, it’s a matter of cents. It’s important to check its amount to confirm you are actually the owner of the bank account, and it is connected to your exchange account. After the verification, you will need to find a crypto that suggests pairing with fiat money. Ordinarily, not all cryptos might be bought straight with fiat currency. A lot of exchanges ask first to purchase Ethereum or Bitcoin. These are major cryptos, and it is possible to trade any of them for any other coin available on the platform.

How to Store Ripple (XRP)

It’s critical not just to find the safest way to buy Ripple but to store it as well. The best option here is to use a wallet that works with XRP. It allows sending, accepting, and keeping cryptos. To store digital assets securely, there are a lot of wallet types. These are cloud ones, hardware, or software. Your pick depends on your personal needs and preferences. 

Many seasoned traders advise keeping XRP in hardware wallets since they allow keeping them offline in a sort of ‘cold storage’. Thus, if online attacks happen, they cannot threaten your holdings.

Here are a few benefits of keeping cryptos in hardware aka cold wallets.

1. Your personal, secret key is known just to you. You’ll need to enter this key only on your encrypted hardware gadget. That’s it. No passwords! Thus, it can never be hacked or copied. 
2.  Pin encryption for enhanced safety. These types come with pin protection and others also offer additional security like biometric login. Thus, if someone tries to guess your code and get physical access to your wallet, the program will block itself after 3 attempts. 
3. Storage of multiple digital assets in one place. Usually, this type of currency does not take too much space. Basically, there are no limitations to how much you can keep in your wallet, even at the same time.
4. No PC viruses. Crypto wallets available on the web or PC can be undermined by viruses. They are created to threaten system software. But they cannot damage a hardware wallet device by no means.
5. Transaction authentication on the device. Every transaction is checked via the encrypted hardware wallet. This means no one can make a transaction without access to your wallet. Just keep the device out of other hands, and your digital assets are rock safe!

Now, let’s get straight to the point of how to invest in Ripple.

How To Invest In Ripple?

Should I invest in Ripple? Well, first, you need to know that many platforms delisted the coin. The project got into this SEC investigation. Some platforms allow holding XRP but not transacting with it. Yet, you will find a couple of options to exchange. 

In general, there’s no easiest way to buy XRP. The process requires a few steps, including investing in a basecoin, transferring an account, and finally purchasing XRP (as it’s alt-coin). So, here are three main steps.

1. Get a wallet that will be able to store XRP.

Before doing any manipulations with XRP, make sure you have a secure wallet to store it. As it was previously said, there are software and hardware ones. Usually, you don’t have to pay for software ones as these are free programs, less secure and quite convenient for small holdings. They might have an exchange for traders who would like to swap the coin to other digital assets and vice versa. 

Hardware wallets are separate devices that look like flash drivers. They usually connect to a PC and keep your personal keys. In terms of security, these are the best ones. Some of them allow storing XRP and other cryptos and can connect to your phone via Bluetooth. Obviously, you will want mobile wallets. There are plenty of them compatible with iOS and Android. 

For the record, every single Ripple wallet has to primarily contain a 20 XRP reserve to prevent low-level spam threats. After getting the wallet, it’s necessary to create an XRP address – a number of characters and begins with r.

2. Find the best place to exchange Ripple

The cheapest way to buy Ripple or exchange it is a trustworthy crypto exchange platform. If your country of residence is the United States, you presently have limited options. Ripple Inc. is still involved in the lawsuit filed by the SEC. Thus, you might consider two options: purchasing XRP with fiat money (EUR, USD, etc.) and swap BTC to XRP on particular exchanges. 

 3. Buy Ripple with a Credit Card or trade from another cryptocurrency

Find out how to purchase XRP with a credit card or bank wire transfer in your location. Usually, exchange brokers allow that. Some platforms enable investing in the coin but are less convenient for accessing the coins and transferring them to other people. Thus, you can actually withdraw XRP you purchased to a personal wallet but it requires more steps and time to execute. So, some exchanges are simply fine if you want to bargain on the price. Also, buying digital assets is faster but takes more fees. So, a wire transfer will be a better solution among mentioned ways to buy Ripple unless you’re pressured with time though.  

4. Withdraw your holdings to a wallet

You might leave your XRP on the exchange. Make sure that you picked the best exchange for XRP. Yet, it’s safer to keep them in the wallet. On the exchange, you do not keep tabs on your private keys, and they do not actually belong to you. Regardless of where you got your coins, it’s better to withdraw them into your own proprietary Ripple wallet. Finally, when the transaction is validated, you have your Ripple purchased successfully.

Conclusion

There’s a common question among traders: is ripple a good buy? Yes and no. What the future unfolds for the token and the venture is pretty unclear, especially considering an ongoing lawsuit. Yet, it seems promising considering all the partnerships mentioned and the issues the venture tackles. The guys in the project have all the nerve to appeal to financial giants over the next few years as they offer scalable universal payment solutions with the lowest fees ever. 

Therefore, reputable “friends” can tell a lot about the venture. Thus, MoneyGram got into a partnership with Ripple to streamline international payment solutions. SBI Holdings had a deal to incorporate the bank into RippleNet. Execs saw in this the solution to facilitate remittances and immediate international payments. When they had the deal done, over 47 banks joined the project.

Four years ago, Ripple teamed up with American Express and a solid banking company Santander. The purpose was to facilitate international payments. As a result, XRP value was “solidified” at a time. Actually, the token’s market worth increased by 35% when the event was announced publicly.

Standard Chartered Bank invested in Ripple’s technologies together with other solid investors. The sum of the deal was about $55 million. In 2016, within Ripple’s Series B funding, the total amount of investments constituted $93 million.

Another big fish – Royal Bank of Canada – issued a report dubbed “Imagine 2025” where they regarded investing in Ripple technologies. It also claims that RippleNect can minimize banking fees by 46% per transaction. Another bonus to it is the settlement time via Ripple making up 3-5 seconds. It’s a big contrast against the current system taking a couple of days.

Now, is it a good investment In terms of great returns? Everything is possible if the worth keeps surging and the project keeps making its way to the overall banking sector. But one thing is clear here – there’s a big likelihood of decent reward here as well as a big risk. Thus, investing with common sense is crucial.

Finally, as for the current situation, the coin’s worth today is $0,634024 and a daily trading volume of $2 238 950 049. For the last day, it had a 31% decrease in price. The market cap constitutes $29 320 145 705, and a supply in circulation is 46 244 517 593 XRP coins with the biggest amount of 1B XRP coins.

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that the content of this article is not financial or investing advice. The information provided is the author’s opinion only and should not be considered as direct recommendations for trading or investment. Any article reader or website visitor should consider multiple viewpoints and become familiar with all local regulations before cryptocurrency investment. We do not make any warranties about reliability and accuracy of this information.