The current price of XRP

Although the total supply is large in comparison with other digital assets, not all XRP is circulating in the market. Ripple Labs still holds a sizable percentage of the total supply, which is reserved for the ongoing funding and development of RippleNET. 

A big part of the XRP value proposition derives from the fact that a certain amount of XRP coins are burned after every transaction, making it deflationary by nature. Also, XRP requires a minimum of 20 XRP for every new wallet address assigned. 

Like many cryptocurrencies, XRP doesn’t require a whole-unit purchase. You can buy tiny fractions of a single XRP with 0.000001 being the smallest unit, known as a "drop." 

1 XRP: 1,000,000 drops. 

As of late August 2021, XRP was hovering around the $1.15 mark, having increased roughly 380% year to date. XRP is currently the 6th-largest digital asset with a total market cap of $53.3 billion. The coin regularly experiences daily trading volumes upwards of $5 billion.

How the price of XRP is determined

A common view of cryptocurrencies is that they have no intrinsic value. 

While this may ring true compared with traditional financial assets, cryptocurrencies do in fact possess enormous intrinsic value. They represent the first time in history that anyone, virtually anywhere with a smartphone or laptop can move value worldwide without touching the legacy financial system. 

The price of XRP is ultimately determined by the law of the market supply and demand. Traders put up asking (selling) and bids (buying) orders and the order book matching process at exchanges creates the current XRP price chart, No surprise: it’s constantly changing.

What the bulls are saying

*Superior transaction speed: XRP harnesses throughput speeds of nearly 1,500 transactions per second (TPS) with finality achieved almost instantly (4 seconds). For some context, Bitcoin tractions generally take 10 minutes prior to final confirmation. 

*Focus on banking, remittances: Ripple is actively seeking to incentivize large financial institutions to leverage its services. Currently, inter-bank money transfers are dominated by SWIFT a slow (and old) wire service. Ripple and its native XRP are seen as a faster, low-cost alternative. Transactions on the Ripple network cost a mere 0.0001 XRP ($0.00012 at the time of writing) and are secured by a global network of computer operators, rather than a centralized intermediary. Considering popular remittance services such as Western Union charge anywhere from $5 to $75 (roughly) per transaction, XRP could be poised to dominate a space worth nearly $550 billion annually.  

What the bears are saying

*Lingering legal concerns: Ripple Labs, the firm connected with XRP, is currently in the midst of a legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The source of the conflict: whether Ripple should be required to register XRP as a security. The SEC says yes. Ripple is disputing the claim.  

*Competition coming fast: Also entering the realm of ultra-fast, decentralized payments is Stellar and its native currency XLM. Free of regulatory headaches, Stellar could be poised to challenge Ripple as a leader in decentralized remittance solutions.   

How to buy XRP

With Uphold, you can buy digital currencies in just 11 clicks - even if you don’t have an account yet. Nothing could be easier.

Here’s how fast it is to get started:

1. Go to Uphold.com and click sign up.

2. Enter your email address and personal details.

3. Click the link we send you and create a password

… and you’re off to the races! Just start trading.