The Crazy History of Ripple Coin

Many of you have probably seen the rapid rise of Ripple and wondered how it got to be one of the top 3 coins in the world.

In case you don't know, Ripple (XRP) is a closed payment network for banks to transfer currency quicker and cheaper. But it didn't start out that way. Ripple started as a quasi-competitor to Paypal and only recently converted to the blockchain. Yes, the company is 13 years old.

At a high level, Ripple's history is told in this infographic but the story has a lot of the qualities of Shakespeare. For example , the founder of rival Stellar (STR) was once an executive of Ripple, but broke off to start Stellar. It wasn't an amicable break-up.

“The interpersonal story of Stellar and Ripple Labs is emblematic of the turmoil roiling the entire industry,” the article, written by Michael Craig reads. “It has everything: sex, huge money, fraud, genius, betrayal, international intrigue and government raids.”

The story's main protagonists Jed McCaleb, Stellar's founder, the founder bitcoin exchange Mt Gox (now defunct), Ripple Labs and Stellar's executive Joyce Kim. Craig also reported several allegations that implicate mobile payment provider Stripe and Wells Fargo bank.

But for our purposes, let's take a look at the history of Ripple and if you're looking for a comparison of Ripple and Stellar, I've got you covered.