Bitcoin's price reaching a new high of $120,000 (£89,000) - buoyed by US President Donald Trump's crypto-friendly stance - has kept the buzzy world of cryptocurrencies in the spotlight.
But it also contains confusing terms such as ETFs, blockchains and cold wallets, that can make the topic somewhat tricky.
While many may struggle with the finer points of crypto, pretty much everyone has heard of its most famous product: Bitcoin. But what actually is it?
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, which is to say a type of digital currency. Unlike traditional currencies, Bitcoin is not controlled by centralised financial institutions.
This makes it popular for people who think decentralisation can bring financial freedom, but it also makes it extremely volatile with it rising and falling in value at the whim of Bitcoin buyers and sellers.
Donald Trump has pledged to make the US the "crypto capital of the world" - backtracking on his previous claim that Bitcoin was a "scam".
Its price topped a much-awaited threshold of $100,000 in December 2024.
In mid-July 2025, the price rose to $120,000 as US politicians prepared to begin debating bills that would regulate digital assets.
But its price has been known to plummet just as quickly as it spikes.
XRP
XRP is a cryptocurrency used by a platform called the XRP Ledger. It was created by the co-founders of financial services company Ripple Labs in 2012 as a cheaper, faster alternative to Bitcoin.
The cryptocurrency has a fixed supply of 100 billion coins, which were created when it launched. Much of it is held by Ripple and periodically released into circulation.
Unlike cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, transactions made using XRP are verified through consensus - whereby the majority of validators on its peer-to-peer network must agree whether or not a transaction is valid before it is added to its blockchain.
This has been credited with allowing many transactions to take place simultaneously, at high speed and low cost - making it appealing to financial institutions or for processes like cross-border payments. But as with other cryptocurrencies, XRP has received regulatory scrutiny and seen sudden, sharp declines in value.