XRP

XRP is one of crypto's oldest assets and its most persistently misunderstood one. The XRP Ledger launched in 2012 as a payments network that settles in seconds without mining, and the gap between the asset, the ledger, and Ripple the company is where most confusion about it lives. This hub collects MEXC Learn's XRP coverage. Start with the distinction if you are new: XRP is the asset, the XRP Ledger is the open network it moves on, and Ripple is a private company that holds a large amount of XRP and builds payment products with it. None of the three is the other. From there the coverage splits three ways. Ledger and supply. All 100 billion XRP were created at launch — nothing is mined. Validators agree on transactions through a consensus protocol rather than proof of work, which is why settlement is fast and energy use is minimal. Ripple holds a large share of supply in escrow, with scheduled monthly releases and unused portions returned — a structure covered here in detail, because it shapes the supply questions that follow XRP everywhere. Regulation. The SEC sued Ripple in 2020 over XRP sales; a 2023 ruling drew a line between institutional and open-market sales, and the case concluded in 2025. Articles here cover what was actually decided, which is narrower than most headlines suggested. Markets. US spot XRP ETFs began trading in late 2025, and Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin now runs alongside XRP in its payment stack. Coverage here tracks both.

1 article(s)Created on: 2026/08/24Updated on: 2026/04/20

XRP FAQ

XRP is a digital asset on a public ledger that nobody owns. Ripple is a private US company that uses XRP in its payment products and holds a large amount of it. Ripple did not create the ledger — its founding engineers did, before the company formed — and the ledger runs whether Ripple exists or not. The distinction mattered enough to shape a four-year court case.

No. All 100 billion XRP came into existence when the ledger launched in 2012. There is no issuance and no mining; the supply only falls, slightly, because every transaction burns a tiny fee. Validators reach agreement through a consensus protocol instead of competing with hardware, which is why transactions settle in a few seconds.

Ripple locked the majority of its XRP holdings into on-ledger escrow contracts that release up to a set amount each month, with whatever goes unused returned to the back of the queue. It exists to make Ripple's potential selling predictable. It also means a large share of total supply is not circulating — worth understanding before reading any market-cap figure.

Narrowly. The 2023 ruling held that Ripple's institutional sales of XRP were unregistered securities offerings, while open-market exchange sales were not. Ripple paid a civil penalty, both sides eventually dropped their appeals, and the case closed in 2025. The ruling was about how Ripple sold XRP — it was not a declaration about what XRP is everywhere and forever.

Create an account and complete KYC verification, then fund it by card, bank transfer, P2P, or a crypto deposit. Most users buy a stablecoin such as USDT first, then trade it for XRP on the XRP/USDT spot market. Note that XRP deposits and withdrawals use a destination tag — omitting it is the most common way people misroute funds.