Ripple is the name of the company that created the Ripple payments platform as well as the XRP token.
Ripple’s goal is to build a global, enterprise blockchain solution for handling payments in a faster way.
Ripple (XRP) refers to the cryptocurrency and the name of an open-source payment platform where the cryptocurrency (XRP) can be transferred.
The vision for the platform is to enable real-time global payments anywhere around the world.
The Ripple payment protocol was built by OpenCoin which was founded in 2012.
XRP’s blockchain is maintained by a group of just 36 nodes, which work together to process transactions and maintain the blockchain’s security.
A single company, Ripple, controls the majority of the supply of the asset and maintains significant oversight of the ecosystem, including
controlling 6 of the 36 nodes.
The advantage of this centralization is that the XRP blockchain is extremely fast, capable of processing transactions at a pace that matches credit card payment networks like Visa or Mastercard.
The downsides include that it is exposed to greater government oversight, that payments can be more easily censured or reversed, and that holdings of XRP are subject to possible seizure.