It has been a long time I haven't seen any article or post about the ripple (latest dating 2012?), so that I thought it could be a good opportunity to publish something updated about it, reminding what it is and what it has achieved.
Ripple is a payment protocol that has been developed in different stages since 2004 with the idea of creating a decentralised monetary system and allowing its users to create their own money.
This protocol enables secure, instant and nearly free global transactions by using any type of currencies, commodities or any other measure of value. Like the blockchain, the protocol is decentralised and based on a shared, public ledger. It has its own digital currency, the XRP, that only exists within the ripple system. The system is described as cryptographically secure (cryptographically signed transactions) and algorithmically verified, even though, contrary to the blockchain, the validation process is not "mined" but relies on a consensus among members of the network. Even if the protocol's features include privacy, ID verification procedures have been introduced and only transactions through registered money services businesses are allowed.
Ripple has been increasingly successful since 2013, being adopted by many banks and payment networks and allowing payments to bitcoin addresses. The market capitalisation of its digital currency has reached about 7 billion $ in 2017, being thus among the biggest cryptocurrencies.
Now the question is if it will one day surpass the bitcoin. Here is the latest interview of Ripple's CEO that can give some insights :
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/10/04/ripples-ceo-on-cryptocurrencies-and-the-future-of-xrp/#5805fa3837cd
