Ripple is a disruptive technology that acts as both a cryptocurrency and a digital payment network for financial transactions. It was first released in 2012; it was co-founded by Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb. Ripple’s main process is a payment settlement asset exchange and remittance system, similar to the SWIFT system for international money and security transfers, which is used by banks and financial middlemen dealing across currencies.
The token used for the cryptocurrency is premined and utilizes the ticker symbol XRP. Ripple is the name of the company and the network, and XRP is the cryptocurrency token. The purpose of XRP is to serve as an intermediate mechanism of exchange between two currencies or networks—as a sort of temporary settlement layer denomination.