XRP is a cryptocurrency developed by Ripple Labs, primarily used for instant cross-border payments and fund transfers. Unlike other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, XRP's design goal is to enhance the efficiency of financial transactions and reduce costs. It is based on the Ripple protocol (RTXP), which is an open-source distributed ledger technology that enables fast and low-cost international payments.

The total supply of XRP is 100 billion tokens, all of which were pre-mined at the time of creation, meaning there is no mining process. Ripple Labs holds a significant amount of XRP and gradually releases it into the market. The transaction confirmation time for XRP is only 3-5 seconds, far faster than Bitcoin's 10 minutes, and the transaction fees are extremely low, making it an ideal choice for financial institutions.

Ripple's technology has been adopted by several banks and payment institutions, such as American Express and Santander Bank. However, XRP also faces regulatory challenges, particularly the controversy regarding whether it qualifies as a security by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Nevertheless, XRP remains one of the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization and plays a significant role in the global payments landscape.