Era of the digital finance is here! And international transfers demand new solutions-fast, cheap, and secure. XRP and its blockchain XRPL are becoming the technological answer to the challenges posed by traditional systems like SWIFT. Let’s take a look closer what is XRP in our beginner’s guide
What is XRP?
Many people confuse three important terms that should be distinguished:
- XRP – a digital token for instant value transfer.
- XRPL (XRP Ledger) – a decentralized, open-source blockchain that powers XRP.
- Ripple – the company that develops XRPL and payment solutions based on it.
How XRPL works and what makes it different
XRPL uses a unique consensus mechanism called RPCA, without mining or staking. This makes the network fast, cheap, and energy-efficient.
Advantages of XRPL:
- Transaction confirmation in 3–5 seconds.
- Fees under 0.00001 XRP.
- Speed up to 1,500 transactions per second.
- No mining – only validators.
XRPL is suitable for micropayments, mass settlements, and cross-border transfers.
XRPL Integration for Business and Development
By the way, XRPL offers developers and companies a full set of tools for integration.
Available features:
- APIs and SDKs: support for JavaScript, Python, Java.
- Connectivity: WebSocket, JSON-RPC, REST.
- Functions: wallet creation, sending XRP, issuing custom tokens, built-in DEX.
- Testing via devnet and testnet without risking real funds.
For businesses, XRP provides:
- Up to 90% reduction in fees.
- Removal of intermediaries in settlements.
- Use of XRP as a “bridge” currency between fiat currencies.
- Ability to integrate into B2B systems, e-commerce, and fintech products.
How to access to XRPL?
Deploying and maintaining your own XRPL node requires resources and technical expertise. For many companies, this is unnecessarily complex and costly. Instead, you can access to XRPL node using NOWNodes – a service offering remote access to a Full Node of the XRPL.
What is NOWNodes?
NOWNodes provides ready access to XRPL through:
- Full Node – a complete node with read and write capabilities on the XRPL
- WebSocket (wss) – for fast, real-time two-way data exchange with the network.
Benefits of using NOWNodes:
- No need to deploy your own node – saves time and resources.
- Reliable infrastructure – fault-tolerant and highly available.
- Direct access to full XRPL functionality – wallet creation, sending and verifying transactions, reading balances and histories.
- Support for popular protocols and APIs – compatible with WebSocket and JSON-RPC.
How to connect:
- Register on NOWNodes.
- Get your API key.
- Use these credentials in your application to interact with XRPL.
Conclusion
To sum up, XRP and XRPL are not just another blockchain. They are a platform for fast and accessible global financial infrastructure. Developers get convenient tools. Companies get a way to optimize costs and speed up settlements.
Now that XRP is legally recognized as a secure instrument, it is becoming an increasingly important part of the future of digital finance.