Ripple vs Ethereum – Main Differences Between These Two Cryptocurrencies

Ripple vs Ethereum is the most common comparison in the cryptocurrency industry. Investors want to know the main differences between these two digital assets. At the same time, they also need to understand how they could evolve in the future. Enthusiasts that are entering this industry care about the main characteristics of Ethereum and Ripple. 

Ripple vs Ethereum – Differences

Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) are two of the three largest cryptocurrencies in the market. After Bitcoin, ETH and XRP dominate the market with high valuations. This can be attributed to the benefits and services offered to market participants. 

Ripple is the company behind the XRP virtual currency. This firm is working in order to offer better cross-border payment services. Indeed, international transfers can be performed in just a few seconds and for almost no fees with XRP. Nowadays, moving funds across borders can be certainly difficult. 

Ethereum was created as a blockchain network that aimed at improving Bitcoin’s services. This network can now offer users the possibility to run smart contracts, decentralized applications (dApps), and many other things. Thus, besides offering a digital asset, such as BTC, it also provides new solutions to the market. 

While Ripple is behind the development of XRP and its solutions, Ethereum has a decentralized network of developers. There are several individuals and enthusiasts working on this platform. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that Ripple has a very active community. Both of these networks and crypto projects have many enthusiasts on social networks. 

The coming sections will be used to describe, with more details the main differences between Ripple and Ethereum. There are many characteristics, such as the consensus algorithm and coins issued, that would be discussed further. 

Consensus Algorithm

Ripple vs Ethereum have an important difference: the consensus algorithm. A consensus algorithm is a protocol that these digital assets and networks use to achieve agreement. This is used to confirm transactions and help these networks work as they should. 

At the moment, Ethereum is working with a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm. This is the same as the one used by Bitcoin (BTC) or Litecoin (LTC). In general, PoW tends to consume a large number of resources. Moreover, miners require to purchase expensive mining equipment to be part of the network. However, when they process the transactions, they receive a reward depending on the number of blocks they find. 

Although a PoW consensus algorithm provides high-security levels, it is less efficient than Proof-of-Stake (PoS). With Proof-of-Stake it is possible to control the network avoiding the high energy consumption of PoW. 

Ripple, instead, works with a unique network of servers. This Ripple Protocol consensus algorithm (RPCA) allows the network to process secure, fast, and efficient transactions. This makes it very useful for companies making cross border transfers. 

This network is very decentralized and has a large number of participants. Compared to Ethereum, Ripple’s consensus algorithm makes transfers faster and cheaper.

Ripple vs Ethereum Price Comparison

There has always been some kind of rivalry between Ripple and Ethereum. Indeed, these two virtual currencies were many times trying to get the second position in the market. During some periods of time, XRP was able to be more valuable than Ethereum. 

At the time of writing this article, Ethereum is the second-largest virtual currency. Meanwhile, Ripple is the third-largest. They have a valuation of $67,524,688,289 and $28,104,915,453, respectively.

Ripple has minted 100 billion XRP coins. However, only 43.81 billion XRP has been released to the market. Ethereum doesn’t have a limit of coins that could be ever mined. Indeed, this is an issue that has affected the community and this virtual currency. At the moment, there are over 110 million ETH coins in circulation. 

Currently, each ETH can be purchased for $600.19, and XRP has a price of $0.661 per coin. The highest price for Ripple was close to $3.84 in January 2018. Ethereum reached its all-time high $1.432 on January 13, 2018. 

If you are an investor, it will be very important to understand how the price of these cryptocurrencies could evolve. This is why future partnerships and adoption will play a key role in determining the demand for these assets. 

Acquiring and Storing Ripple and Ethereum

It shouldn’t be difficult to get access to both Ripple and Ethereum. Several virtual currency exchanges are currently offering solutions to users. Considering these are two of the largest cryptocurrencies, they would be supported on a wide range of platforms. 

Binance and Coinbase are just two examples of exchanges that would allow you to buy XRP and ETH. Nonetheless, there are some other exchanges with different services. Thus, it is always good to select the platform that offers the best solutions according to your needs. 

Although exchanges are a great way to acquire these two virtual currencies, it is advised to use a crypto wallet. One of the best hardware wallets in the industry is produced by Ledger. Both Ledger Nano S and Ledger Nano X would work properly to safely store virtual currencies.

The Future of Ripple and Ethereum

Both cryptocurrencies are working on very interesting partnerships and proposals. It is clear that these two projects are at the forefront of the market. Ripple is working so as to attract a larger number of users to its platform. That means they are searching for new partnerships with financial companies. This would make the whole financial system a much more efficient market. 

In addition to it, Ripple is promoting the XRP virtual currency and its usage. Several developers are receiving funds in order to create new solutions based on the Ripple ledger. 

Ethereum is also focused on planning its Proof-of-Stake network. This PoS improvement would make it even faster and easier to make transfers on top of Ethereum. This virtual currency will certainly become faster and a great solution to run dApps and smart contracts. 

Ethereum is also getting closer to Ethereum Classic (ETC). This is expected to bring both communities together and let them become stronger in the future. Besides that, the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) market is also expanding. Ethereum could be the main blockchain network facilitating the expansion of this sector. 

Conclusion

Ethereum and Ripple are great digital assets in the market. They have their own characteristics and solutions for users, meaning that they are trying to solve different problems and issues in the space. The future seems to be very bright for Ethereum and Ripple.

As the market enters a new bull trend, it may be possible for these virtual currencies to continue offering great solutions and expanding all over the world.