Contrary to popular belief, there is a difference between Ripple and XRP. To quote Michael Caine, “not a lot of people know that.” Even if people are aware, however, they still struggle to fully grasp the concept. This has caused many in the community to feel a certain sense of frustration, as Ripple, the company, has said time and time again that they are not the same, but have only now started to clarify the difference between the two.
Before, many would argue that it was just assumed that the public should know the difference. However, as we have seen, the crypto sector is a learn as you go kind of industry. With that, we want to help spread the knowledge of the difference, so that we are able to leave the confusion behind as we make our way to the end of the year.
What is the Difference Between Ripple and XRP?
Now, there’s a lot of information that could go into this article. However, I want to keep it as simple as possible. Why? Because this difference has confused people for months on end; why would I make it more confusing by throwing in difficult-to-understand terminology? If you’re interested in the crypto sector, it’s best to start with the basics, then work your way up.
The difference between Ripple and XRP is really simple. Those aren’t my words, either. Cory Johnson, Chief Market Strategist for Ripple said that recently in an interview. So if it’s that simple, why are people still so confused? Well, sometimes, things just take a while longer than others to be understood.
So yes, at the end of the day, there is a difference between Ripple and XRP. Here are 4 of them.
Ripple and XRP Just Have the Same Name
To put it simply, Ripple is a software company, while Ripple (XRP) is a digital asset that, as mentioned by Cory Johnson, “trades on its own by lots of people, in lots of places.”
Ripple Didn’t Create XRP
This is something that a lot of people are confused by. So, there is a general consensus that Ripple created XRP, the 3rd largest digital currency in terms of market cap — but that’s not true. XRP was created by Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto, and Chris Larsen. Yes, Ripple does “happen to own a lot of XRP,” but that was given to them, not created by them.
For perspective, Ripple is reported as holding roughly “60% of all XRP in existence.”
Ripple Has No Control Over Falling XRP Prices
A lot of people ask the company about the prices of XRP on the market. In truth, they have no control over it. As a matter of fact, Cory Johnson said the following when asked to give his opinion on falling XRP prices:
“It’s a market dynamic that I can’t begin to understand.”
With that being said, Johnson did say that the Ripple team believes that if the company has success – which it appears to have – and other companies that use XRP have success, then they believe “it will start to create an intrinsic value in XRP that other cryptocurrencies or tokens don’t have.”
Ripple is Doing Better Than XRP
In terms of performance, Ripple and XRP are not neck and neck. In the quarter, Ripple, the software company, has had, according to Johnson, “the best quarter ever.” Why? Johnson cited the following reasons: they have signed more deals and partnerships in the quarter, and there are now more banks using its software.
This is all true. In the last few weeks, we have seen some positive Ripple news surface. For instance, Ripple donated $50M to Universities, donated money to the Ellen Wildlife, and had two banks join RippleNet. Meanwhile, we haven’t seen a lot of positive XRP news. The price of XRP has fallen roughly 70% in the quarter, meaning Ripple and XRP are not correlated.
Difference Between Ripple and XRP | The Takeaway
Hopefully, this helped you in understanding the difference between Ripple and XRP. Trust me, it took me a while too. Once you get the hang of it, though, not only will you see XRP in a different light, but you will see Ripple in a different way too.
Further, it’s worth mentioning that Ripple, the software company, wishes nothing but the best for XRP. In fact, Johnson said, “we have about 61 billion reasons we would like it to do well.” All the company asks, however, is for the difference between the Ripple and XRP to be recognized.
Featured Image: Twitter
