100,000,000,000 XRP were created at the outset of the network, by its founders, and portion of those were gifted to Ripple Labs.
Here is an explanation of why that total specific number of XRP units was chosen. No new XRP can ever be created, and the total supply constantly decreases---as small portion of XRP are destroyed with every transaction.
Many have been confused on this topic, due to how Ripple is represented on sites like
coinmarketcap.com.
Available supply has increased over time, as Ripple Labs
continues to distribute its XRP holdings, but
total supply has only ever decreased. Calculating market capitalization according to
available supply of XRP is in some ways similar to calculating Bitcoin market cap according to
mined Bitcoins, as opposed to the total number that will ever be mined. Initially, coinmarketcap.com calculated XRP market cap according to
total supply and received criticism that the number was misleading, since it did not represent the total number of XRP potentially available at market.
lol, its giving it away for free to banks by the millions with a clause that they can not dump instantly in an exchange to publicly state that they will support it. suckers can buy them at an hyper-inflated price. this clause also completely warps the "available" supply and fight over a very small amount of coins nowhere near the stated available supply on coinmarketcap. in endeffect the have the same power as a bank it the close shop your done.
technicaly it should not be listed on cmc, but he they are just another receiver of free gifted coins, eager to dispose of.
there is no reason to go up in value as the coin is not really needed by ripple laps.
no xrp is needed to go from fiat to bitcoin to frequent flyer points or to whatever else.
bitcoin needs miners, ripple needs fish to bite the fishers o so tasty worm.
I am not advocating investment in XRP, nor suggesting any certainty exists XRP will rise in value. I am hoping to help inform.
Ripple has a lot of potential that is overlooked, due to widespread misunderstanding. It damages the community to ignore Ripple in its entirety---when other systems may be able to benefit from its core tech and concepts. If anyone finds Ripple Labs or Ripple implementation specific details troublesome, then they are free to improve upon its ideas and technology in alignment with their own values. Fork the github repo.
Here is information that may help others understand the bridge-currency role of XRP:
XRP is also used to prevent transaction spam. It accomplishes this by way of a requirement that all transactions include a small fee. Individual Validator load is used to dynamically adjust that fee. If a user attempts to crash the network by sending millions of transactions, the cost becomes prohibitive. Neither Validators nor Ripple Labs receive the fee; the associated XRP are destroyed. Many use postage stamps as an analogy.
In addition, XRP is used to prevent ledger bloat. Entries to the ledger require a specific number of XRP. If the entry is removed from the ledger, then the XRP are returned to the user. An end result is that ledger bloat attacks on the network---say an actor attempting to flood an order book with millions of bids or forming millions of trust lines---also quickly becomes cost prohibitive.
In line with the last 2 points, XRP provides a vital security function for the network.
It may surprise you that financial institutions are generally
not interested in holding XRP. Instead, they are attracted to Ripple for the core functionality it provides for solving existing problems, and those problems have nothing to do with XRP. International transfers are the current leading use case.
My opinion is that building something of lasting value on the Ripple network is the best Ripple investment anyone could make, as opposed to speculative currency investment---and I believe that is true of all cryptocurrencies.
CrossCoin Ventures startup accelerator offers up to $50,000 equivalent of XRP value for funding, and has no requirement that focus be Ripple exclusive.
LibraTax is a solid example.
RippleWorks has also now launched, as of last week, with $60 million in funding to help facilitate social change.
We are talking about something different here. I believe that people involved in it know what they are doing (despite that I don't even bothered to research it... I was only following the market).
