Ripple Labs, Inc. – is an American technology company developing the Ripple payment protocol and exchange network. Originally called Opencoin and renamed in 2015, the company was founded in 2012 and is based in San Francisco, California.

The company’s main products are:

• The Ripple protocol is an open protocol for real-time payments between financial institutions. The protocol uses a consensus registry to store transaction information.
• Ripple Network – a decentralised network that uses the Ripple protocol to make payments. Financial institutions as well as individuals and businesses participate in the network.
• XRP is the cryptocurrency used to pay for transactions on the Ripple network.

Ripple aims to make international money transfers faster, cheaper and more transparent. The company claims that its technology can reduce the time it takes to make cross-border payments from days to seconds.

Ripple works with more than 100 financial institutions around the world, including banks, payment processors and exchanges. Its partners include major banks such as Santander, Standard Chartered and SBI Holdings.

In 2019, Ripple held an initial public offering (IPO) in which the company raised $1.1 billion.

Ripple is one of the largest and best-known blockchain projects. The company has faced criticism from some in the crypto industry who believe it is too centralised and not in line with decentralisation.

Here are some of the major advantages and disadvantages of Ripple:

Advantages:

• Speed and efficiency of payments
• Low transaction costs
• Transparency
• Co-operation with major financial institutions

Disadvantages:

• Centralisation
• Criticism from some crypto industry participants

Today, Ripple is one of the leading blockchain companies. The company has great potential to develop and implement its technology in the global financial system.