The year 2017 was bitcoin’s year, no question about it. However, bitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies have faltered in December. At the same time, even as most cryptos experience a slow start to the New Year, there is one that seems to be gaining upward momentum by the day, and that’s Ripple. If Ripple continues with its current trajectory, it could overtake bitcoin by market capitalization in the course of 2018. This leads to the question? In what ways is ripple different from bitcoin, and what makes it unique? To give you clarity on this, let’s look at 5 ways in which, ripple differs from bitcoin.

The mining process

This is one of the key differences between these two cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin is created through mining whereby miners use computers and other specialized equipment to solve mathematical problems on the blockchain, to create new bitcoin. Ripple takes a completely different approach. All ripple coins that can ever exist have already been created, and the plan for their allocation already laid out. For instance, 55 billion coins will be given out to charity organizations, strategic partners among other interested parties. This makes the two coins fundamentally different in how they operate.

Their transaction speeds

Speed is one of the key aspects that sets the two cryptocurrencies apart. Due to the complexity of the bitcoin mining process, bitcoin transactions are quite slow. Right now, it can take up to 10 minutes or longer, for a bitcoin transaction to go through. This is quite different from ripple whose transactions take less than 4 seconds to go through, since there is no mining involved.

They differ on the exchanges they can be traded on

For you to buy or sell bitcoin, you have to do so through centralized exchanges, which always carry unforeseen security risks. That’s quite from ripple which has its own secure network. You can use this decentralized network to buy or sell ripple with minimal security risks.

Their transaction fees

Ripple charges a transaction fee per coin which is later destroyed. Destruction simply means that no one benefits from that transaction fees. On its part bitcoin has no transaction fees, but it comes with mining fees.

Their information tracking capabilities

This is one of the most noteworthy differences between ripple and bitcoin. While bitcoin networks can only trace how your bitcoins move, the ripple network is more advanced. It can track not just the movement of your ripple coins, but also other things related to your coins, like the account balance.

Ripple 2018 outlook

A quick analysis of the above differences can reveal that ripple is in fact way better than bitcoin. Issues like transaction speeds and exchange security are likely to bog down bitcoin for years to come, but will serve to propel ripple to even higher prices. This makes ripple a great investment in 2018 and beyond. If you are interested in ripple as an investment, simply visit any of the major exchanges and make that purchase. You can also check out hashtag investing for more information on ripple.