Although Ripple shares some common characteristics with Bitcoin, it’s remarkably different. It does not have a public blockchain to display its transactions; however, it depends on cryptography. The protocol maintains a network of nodes that validate transactions, but these are not necessarily anonymous P2P nodes; instead, they are participating banks and financial institutions. Ripple’s coins, known simply as Ripple or XRP, were not mined into existence, they were simply issued.

Unlike Bitcoin, which is only maintained by a distributed network of participants, Ripple is not only the name of the coin but also the company that designed and developed the protocol.

What exactly is Ripple?

Ripple is considered an odd figure among other cryptos, since it does not possess a public blockchain. Internally, it works on a blockchain named 'Enterprise blockchain' ledger, does not use any proof of work, and actually very little is known about it.

Ripple was created as an asset transfer system, aimed at sending instant and secure transactions across network participants. The underlying idea was to transact anything that possesses a digital value, including fiat, cryptocurrencies, commodities, even loyalty points, and mobile credits.

A true comparison between Ripple and Bitcoin does not make sense since the former is not a typical blockchain and is only managed by an individual company. While the Ripple network is centrally controlled and operated, the Bitcoin operates as a decentralized platform; therefore, there is no point of rivalry between the two.

Ripple’s key features and specifications:

Instant Payment option – aside from being instantaneous, payments can be done across any part of the globe; this happens opposed to conventional interbank settlement features, which are executed via the international SWIFT network.

B2B-friendly focus – as a company, Ripple keeps a keen interest in engaging key players in the financial industry; both banks and non-bank financial service providers are included. This network offers the opportunity of instant cross-border remittances and payments. All transactions are designed to be compliant with risk, privacy, anti-money laundering, “know your customer,” and anti-terrorism requirements for financial institutions.

Full End-to-End Payments Service – A bank can use the Ripple network to send a cross-border payment, directly from the sending customer’s bank account, through to the receiving customer’s bank account. The Ripple network can handle the entire transaction, including foreign exchange settlement. It can also instantly calculate the cost of the transaction, down to the cent. Further to that, it can send a signal to both the participating banks, when the end-customer has received their deposit for both banks to update their customer’s accounts.