XRP is Ripple currency. Don't see it available for sale at any of the exchanges although it is in pre-start and they've been disseminating some to people. Seems unfair in the method being given a little, as new adopters are being left out in the cold. There are 100 billion of them, no more, no less. Ripple.com
Some seasoned people involved. With the BTC bubble and hype going on, some interest is bound to overflow into many of these others, but nobody knows which, if any will survive and be viable long term.
As long as some have use, and maintain mass interest, they should do OK in the near term.
XRP are stamps to prevent spam in the Ripple system. You are ok with just a bunch of them, no need to buy so many imo.