Ripple is a technology that acts as both a cryptocurrency and a digital payment network for financial transactions. It was first launched in 2012 and was co-founded by Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb. The Ripple platform is an open-source protocol designed to enable fast and low-cost transactions. The platform has its own cryptocurrency (XRP). Used by companies like UniCredit, UBS, and Santander, banks and payment networks have increasingly adopted Ripple as a settlement infrastructure technology due to the speed of payments within the network, the stability of the technology, and the ability of its currency to serve as a bridge currency. There were 100 billion XRP created at the inception of Ripple, which is the cap of the currency according to the rules of the protocol. Of the 100 billion created, 20 billion XRP were retained by the creators, and the remaining 80% of the total was allocated to Ripple Labs for sale. To understand a little more about what Ripple is and how it works, keep reading these articles about Ripple and its cryptocurrency XRP: