Even though a lot of cryptocurrency enthusiasts readily dismiss Ripple, the project has a lot of interesting traits working in its favor. A few new features have been introduced to the Ripple Consensus Ledger and Interledger protocols a little while ago. These changes improve transaction throughput for international payments. Moreover, Ripple is on par with Visa when it comes to handling network transactions.
Do Not Underestimate The Ripple Network
Putting any harmful feelings toward Ripple aside for a moment, cryptocurrency enthusiasts have to acknowledge this distribute ledger project has a lot of potential. It is the first of its kind to actively compete with established payment networks such as Visa. To be more specific, the recent Ripple network updates allow the protocol to process as many transactions as Visa in the same time span, but at much cheaper cost.
To be more precise, these new features pertain to Escrow and Payment Channels. It is now possible for the Ripple Consensus ledger to communicate with the Interledger Protocol and lock up payments. This means users can effectively hold funds transferred over the Ripple protocol in escrow until certain conditions are met.
Moreover, there are no intermediaries involved, creating a trustless system that is beneficial to all parties involved.More specifically, when the funds are kept in escrow on the Ripple network, no single institution is in charge of the funds. This is a feature a lot of clients will enjoy as more time progresses.
The Ripple team introduces a payment channel for XRP as well. This new feature allows a transaction throughput of tens of thousands per second without issues. It is evident this payment channel is designed for XRP specifically. In a recent test, the network handled close to 70,000 XRP transactions with an average time of 3.7 seconds. That is on par with what Visa can achieve.
2. XRP saw nearly 70K transactions with an average time of 3.7 seconds. Compare that to BTC’s avg transaction time of two hours.
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) March 31, 2017
This new XRP payment channel will provide a quick and efficient way to conduct cross-border payments. XRP is still one of the best liquidity options for emerging markets dealing with outdated banking infrastructure. It is believed Ripple will continue to expand its role in the global payments industry over the coming months and years. Moreover, these changes may result in increased XRP adoption on a global scale as well.
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