What is XRP?
XRP is the native digital asset of the XRP Ledger, a public blockchain that has been settling payments since 2012. It exists to move value between currencies and institutions in seconds, for a fraction of a cent — a narrower purpose than most crypto assets, and the reason its design looks so different.
XRP at a glance
Launched
2012
The XRP Ledger went live in June 2012, three years after Bitcoin's genesis block.
Maximum supply
100 billion XRP
All 100 billion XRP were created at genesis. No new XRP can ever be mined or minted.
Settlement time
3–5 seconds
Transactions reach final settlement in one consensus round, typically every 3 to 5 seconds.
Transaction cost
~0.00001 XRP
The base transaction cost is 10 drops (0.00001 XRP) and is destroyed, not paid to a validator.
Consensus
Federated agreement
The XRP Ledger Consensus Protocol replaces mining with a set of independently operated validators.
Energy use
No mining
There is no proof-of-work race, so ledger security does not scale with electricity consumption.
Throughput
~1,500 tx/sec
The network is designed to sustain roughly 1,500 transactions per second at the protocol level.
Built-in exchange
Native DEX
An order book and automated market maker are part of the ledger itself, not a smart contract on top.
How the XRP Ledger works
The XRP Ledger does not use mining. Instead of competing to solve a puzzle, a set of independent validators repeatedly propose which transactions belong in the next ledger and check whether enough of the validators they trust agree. When agreement is reached the ledger closes — typically every three to five seconds — and the result is final. There is no confirmation count to wait for and no chance of a reorganisation reversing a settled payment.
Because nothing is mined, transaction costs are not paid to a miner. The small fee attached to every transaction — quoted in drops, a millionth of an XRP — is destroyed. That makes spam expensive at volume while keeping ordinary payments effectively free, and it means the XRP supply slowly shrinks rather than inflating.
The ledger also has a built-in decentralised exchange and automated market maker. Any two assets issued on the ledger can trade against each other directly at the protocol level, and the ledger can route a payment through several order books at once — which is how a payment sent in one currency can arrive in another without either party holding XRP.
XRP compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum
The three chains were built for different jobs, and nearly every technical difference follows from that.
| Metric | XRP | Bitcoin | Ethereum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consensus | XRP Ledger Consensus Protocol (validators) | Proof of work (mining) | Proof of stake (validators bond ETH) |
| Settlement time | 3–5 seconds | ~10 min per block, ~60 min for finality | ~12 sec per block, ~13 min for finality |
| Typical fee | A fraction of a cent | Varies with congestion, often dollars | Varies with congestion, often dollars |
| Supply | 100 billion, fixed at genesis | 21 million, issued by mining until ~2140 | No hard cap, issuance offset by burning |
| Issuance today | None — supply only shrinks | New coins to miners each block | New ETH to stakers each block |
| Yield for holders | No protocol staking rewards | None | Staking rewards for validators and delegators |
| Smart contracts | Purpose-built ledger features plus sidechains | Limited scripting | General-purpose EVM contracts |
| Built-in exchange | Yes — native order book and AMM | No | No, via third-party contracts |
What XRP is used for
Cross-border settlement
XRP can be used as a bridge asset between two currencies, replacing the pre-funded accounts a bank would otherwise hold in every country it pays into.
Treasury and liquidity management
Because settlement is measured in seconds, capital spends less time in transit and less of it has to sit idle waiting for a payment window.
Tokenised assets and stablecoins
Issuers can create currencies and tokens directly on the ledger. Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin and several tokenised money-market products are issued this way.
On-ledger trading
The native decentralised exchange lets any two issued assets trade against each other, with automatic multi-hop paths between them.
Micropayments
Fees measured in fractions of a cent make per-article, per-API-call and per-second payments economically viable.
NFTs and credentials
Native NFT and decentralised-identifier support means digital collectibles and verifiable credentials do not need a smart contract layer.
Where the supply came from
All 100 billion XRP were created at launch. None can ever be issued, which makes XRP's supply story unusual — and frequently misunderstood.
The founders gave a large portion to Ripple, the company, which in 2017 locked a substantial amount into on-ledger escrow contracts that release on a schedule. Whatever goes unsold is re-escrowed. The mechanics matter to anyone holding XRP, because scheduled releases are a known, visible source of supply.
A short history
2011
The ledger is designed
David Schwartz, Jed McCaleb and Arthur Britto begin work on a consensus ledger that settles payments without mining.
2012
XRP Ledger goes live
The ledger launches with all 100 billion XRP created at genesis. The founders gift the majority of the supply to the company that becomes Ripple.
2013
Bank-facing payments push
The company pivots from consumer wallets to selling cross-border settlement infrastructure to financial institutions.
2017
55 billion XRP locked in escrow
Ripple places 55 billion XRP into cryptographic escrow contracts on the ledger, capping how much it can sell each month.
2020
SEC lawsuit filed
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sues Ripple over XRP sales. Several U.S. exchanges suspend XRP trading.
2022
Native NFTs ship
The XLS-20 amendment adds native non-fungible tokens to the ledger, without smart contracts.
2023
Programmatic sales ruling
A U.S. district court rules that XRP sold on exchanges to the public did not constitute an investment contract. U.S. exchanges relist XRP.
2024
AMM and a Ripple stablecoin
The XLS-30 automated market maker is enabled on mainnet and Ripple launches RLUSD, a dollar stablecoin issued on the ledger.
2025
Litigation closed out
Ripple and the SEC end their appeals, removing the case that had defined XRP's U.S. regulatory status for five years.
Things people get wrong about XRP
XRP attracts more confident misinformation than almost any other crypto asset. These are the claims worth correcting.
XRP is mined like Bitcoin.
No XRP has ever been mined. The full supply existed at genesis and there is no block reward.
Ripple can print more XRP.
The protocol has no issuance function. Ripple's holdings are large, but they are part of the original 100 billion.
Banks hold XRP on their balance sheets.
Most institutional use is transient: XRP is bought, used to bridge a payment and sold within seconds by a liquidity provider, not held.
XRP transactions are reversible because a company runs the ledger.
Once a transaction is validated it is final. Validators cannot roll back a closed ledger.
Risks worth understanding
XRP is a volatile asset that has repeatedly lost more than half its value, and it carries risks specific to its design and history. Its largest single holder is a company with a scheduled release programme. Its regulatory treatment has been litigated and remains differently interpreted across jurisdictions. Validator participation, while open, is more concentrated than Bitcoin's hash rate. And demand for XRP as a settlement bridge depends on institutions choosing to use it, which is a business outcome rather than a protocol guarantee.
None of that is a reason not to own XRP. It is a reason to size the position accordingly and to understand what you are buying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is XRP the same thing as Ripple?
No. XRP is the digital asset native to the XRP Ledger, an open network that would keep running with no company behind it. Ripple is a private company that builds payment products which use XRP and holds a large amount of it. The two names are used interchangeably in the press, but they are not the same entity.
Can you stake XRP?
Not at the protocol level. The XRP Ledger has no staking mechanism, no inflation and no validator rewards, so there is no native yield. Products advertising XRP staking are lending, market-making or reward schemes run by a company, and they carry that company's credit risk.
Why is there a minimum XRP balance in a wallet?
Every account on the XRP Ledger has to hold a small base reserve, and a little more for each object it owns such as a trust line or an offer. The reserve exists to stop the ledger being spammed with empty accounts. It is not a fee — it stays in your account — but it cannot be sent away, so plan on funding a new wallet with slightly more than you intend to hold. Check xrpl.org for the current reserve amount.
Where does the fee on an XRP transaction go?
Nowhere. The transaction cost is destroyed rather than paid to a miner or validator, which slowly reduces total supply. The cost also scales up automatically when the network is busy, which makes spamming the ledger expensive.
How many XRP will ever exist?
100 billion were created when the ledger launched in 2012 and no mechanism exists to create more. Because every transaction burns a small amount, the total supply only ever falls.
Is XRP a good way to send money internationally?
The ledger settles in seconds for a fraction of a cent, which compares well with a wire transfer. In practice you still need an on-ramp and an off-ramp — an exchange or payment provider at each end — and their spreads and withdrawal fees usually dominate the cost of the transfer itself.
Ready to buy XRP?
We rank exchanges by how much XRP you actually receive after deposit fees, trading fees and spread — not by their advertised rate.