Bridge currency
An asset used as the middle leg between two currencies in a payment.
Rather than maintaining a market for every currency pair, a network can trade each currency against one common asset.
XRP was designed for this role: it settles in seconds, costs a fraction of a cent to move and has liquid markets against major fiat currencies.
Related terms
On-Demand Liquidity (ODL)
Ripple's product that sources liquidity for cross-border payments by bridging through XRP.
Path-finding
The ledger's ability to route a payment through multiple markets to deliver an exact destination amount.
XRP
The native digital asset of the XRP Ledger, used to pay transaction costs and to bridge between currencies.