Bitcoin Forum

why don't exchanges trade xrp?

Isn't Bitstamp effectively doing just this (although the actual trading is done *through* Ripple)?

Tradehill has XRP listed on their front page as a currency they are focusing on.  However, this has been there since the Tradehill relaunch and as far as I can tell XRP is not yet traded.  Of course it also appears that BTC is barely traded at Tradehill as well, only 12k bitcoin for the last month.  Does not appear that Tradehill new strategy is working.   

Primarily because XRP isn't a cryptocurrency forked from BTC or LTC (and thus as easy to integrate, many exchanges just clone the code and point it at a new deamon for X new coin). Ripple is an entirely new system which compliments all currencies, allowing them to be managed and sent within and outwith the ripple network, both directly from person to person, or via traditional orderbooks supported by various exchangers, and XRP is a utility of that network. Any exchange which supports ripple, by default supports every currency they choose to support. Further ripple allows currency backed by an issuer to be traded with the same currency backed by another issuer. e.g. it allows MtGox.USD to be traded for BTCe.USD or Bitstamp.USD - or literally any combinations of currency you can conceive.

XRP is supported by some exchanges already, and being added to more, but really ripple is a newer approach on which you could build entire exchanges, or indeed you could just create your own exchanges within ripple.

yes but also it would make any alt exchangeable with usd/eur so any exchange going for it would have that, plus trade %