XRP 

XRP Price

What is the XRP cryptocurrency?

XRP is the native digital asset of the XRP Ledger (XRPL), an open-source Layer-1 blockchain launched in 2012 by Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto and David Schwartz. XRP settles transactions in roughly 3–5 seconds with negligible, burned fees and uses a federated consensus protocol instead of proof-of-work mining. Its primary use case is fast, low-cost cross-border payments, where XRP acts as a bridge asset between currencies. Ripple, the company most associated with the asset, is a separate corporate entity and the ledger's most prominent user.

How does the XRP Ledger blockchain work?

The XRP Ledger reaches agreement through a federated consensus protocol among independent validators, not through mining. Each ledger closes in roughly 3–5 seconds. Transactions pay fees denominated in drops, and a standard transaction burns about 10 drops (0.00001 XRP). Accounts must hold a reserve of 1 XRP plus 0.2 XRP per ledger object. The ledger also includes a built-in decentralized exchange where XRP provides bridging liquidity.

Is XRP the same as Ripple?

No — XRP and Ripple are distinct entities. XRP is the native asset of the decentralized XRP Ledger, created at the ledger's inception in 2012. Ripple is a private company that builds payment products on the ledger and holds a large XRP position: 80 billion XRP were gifted to Ripple, then OpenCoin Inc., in September 2012. The name derives from "ripple credits", but the asset exists independently of Ripple's operations.

How many drops are in 1 XRP?

1 XRP equals 1,000,000 drops. Drops are the smallest fee denomination on the XRP Ledger. A standard transaction burns about 10 drops, or 0.00001 XRP, so a single XRP covers roughly 100,000 standard transactions in fees.

What is XRP's maximum and total supply?

XRP has a fixed maximum supply of 100,000,000,000 XRP, all created at the ledger's inception in 2012 — no new XRP can ever be minted. 80 billion XRP went to Ripple, then OpenCoin Inc., in September 2012; the founding team retained the remainder. Per DropsTab data, total supply stood at approximately 99.986 billion XRP as of September 2026 — the gap reflects XRP permanently destroyed through transaction-fee burn.

Does XRP have a burn mechanism?

Yes. Every XRP Ledger transaction burns its fee, permanently removing that XRP from supply. A standard transaction burns about 10 drops (0.00001 XRP). The burn makes XRP technically deflationary, but lifetime burns total only about 14.4 million XRP against the 100 billion maximum — a marginal amount by design. Fee burning deters spam rather than acting as a supply-reduction program.

How much XRP is in Ripple's escrow and how do unlocks work?

Ripple locked 55 billion XRP into on-ledger escrow contracts in December 2017. The escrow releases up to 1 billion XRP on the first day of each month, but Ripple uses only a small fraction of each release and re-locks the rest. Roughly 30 billion XRP remain in escrow, with the exact balance changing monthly. Sell pressure on XRP is therefore driven by Ripple's net monthly spending — not by vesting cliffs or insider unlock schedules.

Is XRP a security?

The status is split by sales channel, not a blanket verdict. In the July 2023 SEC v. Ripple ruling, a US federal court found that XRP sold programmatically on exchanges is not a security, while XRP sold institutionally was deemed securities transactions. Both findings come from the same case, so XRP's US regulatory treatment differs between exchange sales and direct institutional sales.

Who backed Ripple and how much has Ripple raised?

All funding belongs to Ripple the company, not to the XRP asset. Per DropsTab data, Ripple raised over $790 million across 9 rounds from 2013 to 2025 — from a $3.5M seed led by Core Innovation Capital in November 2013 to a $500M strategic round co-led by Fortress and Citadel Securities on November 5, 2025, at a $40B valuation. Backers across earlier rounds include Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, IDG Capital, SBI Investment, Standard Chartered and Santander InnoVentures — a cap table heavy on banks and institutions.

Where can you buy XRP?

XRP trades on 100+ spot markets across centralized exchanges, including Binance (XRP/USDT), Coinbase (XRP/USD), Kraken, OKX, Upbit (XRP/KRW) and Bitso (XRP/MXN), with fiat pairs in USD, EUR, KRW, JPY, TRY and BRL. Per DropsTab data, XRP derivatives also trade on 10+ venues including Binance Futures, Bybit, Deribit and Hyperliquid. Decentralized-exchange availability is limited to a wrapped XRP token on BNB Chain via PancakeSwap — those pairs track a separate BSC token, not the native XRP Ledger asset.