XRP is the native utility token of Ripple, released in 2012. Conceived and co-founded by Jed McCaleb, the system was built by Arthur Britto, David Schwartz, and Ryan Fugger. Jed McCaleb also went on to co-found and become CTO at Stellar.
Ripple is a system that seeks to provide an easy, secure, and fast way to send money built on blockchain technology. Their network, RippleNet, works with financial institutions around the world to provide a simple, safe, and cost-effective way for them to provide their customers’ payments. XRP acts as the mediator in the Ripple system, for both cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies, providing the service for a negligible fee and wait time.
As of 2019, XRP ranks third among cryptocurrencies in market capitalization.