This post explains what Ripple is, how it can be used and how to get Ripple VPN.
What is Ripple?
Ripple (XRP) is a payment system that can be easily used to transfer any currency around the world. Created by Ripple Labs Inc, Ripple network consists of payment nodes on a distributed global network, and gateways operated by websites or stores. Payments are made using IOUs based relationships.
Released in 2012, Ripple is seen as a Bitcoin alternative as it provides secure and instant transactions of any size with no chargebacks. The Ripple protocol has been increasingly adopted by banks (UniCredit, UBS or Santander) and payment networks as settlement infrastructure technology.
You may find more info about Ripple by watching the video presentation on the Ripple site.
What are the most important features of Ripple?
Ripple payments are secure and instant, but there are a lot of other exciting features you should know about:
- It uses no blockchain technology and no mining.
- It has no hard limit on the number of transactions per second.
- The transactions can be completely confirmed within seconds rather than hours.
- It is a “greener” cryptocurrency as no computational need for transaction confirmations.
- It works for any currency, including Bitcoin, USD, and EUR.
But Ripple’s major disadvantage to Bitcoin is that all the Ripple credits were held by their originator, OpenCoin Inc. In contrast, bitcoins were all originally hidden and they are discovered regularly by mining, a process open to anyone interested.
How to get Ripple (XRP)?
According to the Ripple docs, there are two ways to get XRP:
- Receive XRP to your XRP wallet from an exiting Ripple user.
- Use a gateway to exchange your non-XRP digital currency into XRP or your may buy Ripple. Some of the most popular portals are Bitstamp, Ripple Fox, and Gatehub.
And, if you want to create your own funded Ripple account, follow these steps described here.
How to pay a VPN with Ripple?
The payment with Riddle is similar to Bitcoin payments. You need to either send a payment directly to certain Ripple address or use a wallet application. Further, the transactions are instantly confirmed and the VPN account is activated.
Ripple VPN providers
At this time there are only a few VPN providers that accept Ripple VPN payments.
PrivateInternetAccess is a top VPN provider (read our complete PIA review). You need to simply go to PIA site, select the billing plan (monthly, semi-annually, annually) and select Ripple option. The email address is mandatory for the account creation. Next, a window with a Ripple address is shown. You may now proceed with the payment. Finally, as the payments are confirmed within seconds, your new VPN account is instantly activated.
Another excellent VPN service that accepts Ripple coins is PureVPN. The orders can be placed via CoinPayment.net platform. You may opt-in for other crypto-currencies as well, like Bitcoin, LiteCoin, BlackCoin and many more.
ibVPN (read our review here) offers a similar way to pay with Ripple, via CoinPayments. The VPN accounts are instantly activated.
Conclusion
Therefore, Ripple looks like an interesting alternative to Bitcoin as an online currency. The main advantage that I see is that the transactions are instantly confirmed. However, Ripple is still not widely accepted by VPN providers. Hopefully, this will change in the future.
Do you know other VPN providers that accept Ripple? Let us know in the comments below.
Indeed, only PIA can be paid using Ripple. I would like to have others as well. HMA?