Some readers readily absorb statistics and numbers, and can learn more purely from the mathematics and hard facts around a crypto-currency faster than they can by reading through detailed comparisons.

There’s a lot of “numbers” to pay attention to for each of the crypto-currency choices in the wider ecosystem.  Adoption numbers, performance statistics, time & date statistics, wallet statistics, market financial statistics, and also numbers that can describe more subtle intangible characteristics. numbers

Before I begin the myriad of numbers that can help describe XRP, keep in mind that many numbers are point-in-time – i.e., they describe the state of a network or crypto-currency as a snapshot representation of reality, frozen for you with a contrasting background of past and future.  Keep this in mind as XRP moves inexorably forward and compare some of these statistics to your old ones.

XRP Performance

The digital asset that Ripple created in 2012 continues to exceed to the technical performance of its competitors in the most important categories for a crypto-currency.  These performance metrics can scale to match the speeds of centralized payment databases such as VISA or PayPal.
  • Settlement Speed (Full confirmation): 3.54 Seconds 1
  • Scalability: 1,500 TPS On-ledger / 70,000 + TPS Off-ledger 2

XRP Liquidity Statistics

Investors in XRP are growing by the thousands each day, and the number of exchanges now offering XRP alongside Bitcoin has quadrupled in 2017.  This demand will continue to drive greater and greater levels of liquidity within the network, serving as a market for ForEx and crypto-currency traders. globe
  • Number of Exchanges: 29 3
  • 30-Day Volume: $2.42 Billion (~ $81 million per day) 4
  • Ranking by Market Capitalization: 3rd 5

XRP Ledger Fees and Costs

Ripple planned ahead for high usage of the XRP Ledger, and to support parabolic growth in the number of transactions that it can process.  To pay for the network and its speed and stability, the XRP digital asset serves several functions, in addition to its core use case as a bridge asset.

The XRP Ledger contains code that will automatically adjust transaction fees during periods of high usage to discourage DDOS or transaction spamming.  It also contains a required reserve amount for establishing new wallets.

  • Cost to activate a wallet (“reserve” amount): 20 XRP 6
  • Cost to add a trust line to a wallet: 5 XRP 6
  • Cost to open an order: 5 XRP 6
  • Minimum Cost Per Transactions: $.00000196 or 0.00001 XRP (10 drops) 7
  • Latest Network Load-Adjusted Cost: $.0002042 or 0.00100 XRP (1,000 drops) 8

Bank Adoption Statistics

There is significant market momentum behind Ripple technology and the growing network of banks and financial institutions that have deployed the software to facilitate instant international payments and messaging.
  • Number of Banking Customers: 90+ 9
  • Number of customers deploying Ripple technology commercially: 75+ 9

Bank Savings Estimates using XRP

The value of any business product is centered on what it can do for the organization that plans on using it.  The main use case for XRP is for use as a bridge asset when banks transfer money or make payments across borders.  When banks, financial institutions and businesses use XRP, studies have shown that cost savings are an inevitable result.
  • 33 % Cost Savings based on minimization of settlement delays, without using XRP 10
  • 42 % Cost Savings Using XRP assuming high volatility 10
  • 99 % Cost savings in Basel III rule requirement for bank liquidity using XRP instead of Fiat 11

XRP Wallet Statistics

Wallet Statistics provide an overall indication of how many individuals may have created accounts on the XRP Ledger.  While the number must be adjusted downwards to a lower number to arrive at unique users due to duplicate accounts or multiple wallets, one thing to keep in mind is that, while other networks like Bitcoin allow any user to create many wallets with no additional cost, the XRP Ledger contains an amount of XRP needed to activate the wallet called a “reserve amount” that can never be recovered by the owner. wallet_image

This factor means that the intentionality of each wallet is clearly higher than that on other networks – the possibility of multiple wallets still exists, but the likelihood decreases if you require a user to pay for one.

  • Number of XRP Wallets: 501,88912
  • Percent of XRP Wallets holding more than 201,522 XRP: 1% 13  (i.e., you’ll need ~ 200K XRP to be in the XRP “1% club”)

Ripple (Company) Numbers

Many other crypto-currency networks are organized via a non-profit foundation.  Not so with XRP; this digital asset was created by a Silicon Valley company in 2012.  Ripple is a private company, and unlike nonprofit foundations, it can react with much greater alacrity to changes in market conditions, opportunities, and competitive threats.  When you make an investment in a product, it’s only wise to examine the statistics that are related to the underlying organization – in this case a US-based company.
  • Years in Operation: 5+ 14
  • Number of Employees: 150+ 15
  • Number of Engineers / Architects / Developers: 90+ 16
  • Number of Ripple Offices: 7 17
  • Number of Company Board Members: 8 18

Paint By Numbers?

Any one or more of these individual statistics is impressive, but XRP contains them all in one unique crypto-currency offering that is several generations ahead of where Bitcoin started out, and far exceeds the settlement speed offered by Ethereum.

As with any innovation, the first iteration is what generates excitement about the possibilities; but like the Model T or the Blackberry smart phone, it doesn’t represent our best efforts.  Ripple has taken the innovation of a trust-less, decentralized digital currency and elevated the concept with new features and blazing speed.

When a bank or financial institution has to make choice on what technology to adopt for transitioning into instant worldwide payments using blockchain technology, these numbers will paint a picture that any artist - or a bank CEO - can appreciate. xrp

Sources:

  1. https://ripple.com/xrp/market-performance/
  2. https://ripple.com/xrp/
  3. https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/volume/24-hour/all/
  4. https://ripple.com/xrp/market-performance/
  5. https://coinmarketcap.com/ (snapshot on 9-29-2017)
  6. https://support.gatehub.net/hc/en-us/articles/115003269345-What-is-XRP-reserve-
  7. https://ripple.com/build/transaction-cost/
  8. https://ripple.com/xrp/market-performance/ (XRP cost calculated using XRP price on 9-29-2017)
  9. https://ripple.com/
  10. https://ripple.com/files/xrp_cost_model_paper.pdf
  11. https://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2016/a-closer-look-at-ripples-money-saving-claims/
  12. https://xrpcharts.ripple.com/#/accounts (Snapshot on 10-02-2017 @ 9:23 pm CST)
  13. https://twitter.com/TBCrypto/status/909293017319792640
  14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripple_(company)
  15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripple_(company)
  16. https://youtu.be/w4jq4frE5v4 (slide #4)
  17. https://ripple.com/company/
  18. https://ripple.com/company/board-of-directors/