When you think about fast cryptocurrencies you would be forgiven if your mind went directly toward the XRP token as the fastest way for sending transactions. Currently, Ripple has advertised that XRP can conduct up to 1500 transactions per second - a figure that is 3 times the number of SWIFT, the very company that Ripple plans to overthrow.

XRP is still very far behind the level that transactions need to be at. In fact, compared with the TPS rate of VISA - which is estimated at around 50,000 TPS - XRP seems pretty far behind. But it is still important to remember that XRP is still improving and has a long way to go. Compared with other top cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (7 TPS) and Ethereum (25 TPS), XRP is miles ahead.

However, there is still one cryptocurrency that has proven time and time again to be quicker than XRP for transactions.

Introducing Nano Coin - Digital Currency For The Real World







Nano coin has been described as a project that will provide digital currency with real-world application by facilitating incredibly fast transactions (pretty much instant transactions) that are feeless and infinitely scalable.

In research conducted by Bitcoin Kit (now offline), they had found that Nano was actually the fastest cryptocurrency when comparing the transfer times to the Binance exchange. Nano was found to be able to conduct transfers in just 3 seconds - an incredible achievement! This is because Nano has a block time of 3 seconds itself which means it takes the network 3 seconds to confirm a transaction in a block.

When compared with the 5-second block time of XRP - Nano is proven to come out on top. In fact, in the research conducted by Bitcoin Kit, transfers with XRP took around 10 seconds. Interestingly, on their website, they advertise a 4-second payment settlement window but tests seem to show it is between 5-10 seconds in reality. Check out the results from the research below;

So Why Is Nano So Quick?

Originally started as RaiBlocks, the project started with the aim to tackle the problem of slow transactions and high fees. The network uses a DAG & blockchain technology that allows each user to have their own unique blockchain. This means that transactions occur asynchronously which means there is no queuing time for the transaction to occur.

This method of allowing individual blockchains allows Nano to reach super high transaction speed time of only 3 seconds, that is infinitely scalable no matter how many transactions need to be processed at once.

Not Actually In Direct Competition

It is extremely important to point out that these two projects are not actually in any direct competition with each other. Nano is focused on creating a digital currency for the real world by allowing fast and easy ways to pay for everyday things. In comparison, XRP is focused on helping banks and financial institutions (through their RippleNET framework) facilitate international payments - reducing the friction for institutions to clear funds overseas seamlessly.

These are two quite different roadmaps with different target audiences. However, when you next discuss the fastest cryptocurrencies out there, don’t forget to mention that Nano may actually be the fastest!