Bitcoin (BTC) has its own symbol that is the letter ‘B’ with two parallel lines running vertically down it – ₿. This symbol is similar to the USD symbol that is an ‘S’ with one, and sometimes two parallel lines running down through the letter – $. Ethereum (ETH) has that cool looking three dashes that was unknown to this author up until now. Some Ether fans have proposed changing this symbol to the more known diamond symbol that is seen in playing cards. Ripple (XRP) has one, but it is the logo of the parent technology company that has a vision of simplifying cross border payments on the blockchain.

It is with this background that there is growing support to differentiate the Ripple name and logo of the parent tech company, with the digital asset called XRP. The Ripple community has come together to conclude that XRP needs its own Unicode Standard like the one seen in Bitcoin – ₿.

A Unicode Standard is an internationally agreed character coding system that allows for the identification, interchange and processing of written texts along diverse languages, cultures and technical disciplines. This way, XRP can be identified by someone in China as well as someone in Brazil or even Rwanda.

The new symbol hopes to bring forth the qualities of the coin in that it is fast, popular, independent and enhances the exchange of ‘value’ during a transactions.

Current proposals by the Ripple team are centred around the letter ‘X’ due to XRP’s role in moving funds across borders and also that ‘x’ is the common symbol for multiplying in mathematics. XRP allows for entities to build one each other’s concepts and ideas to make something bigger hence multiplying to produce an efficient, mutually beneficial outcome.

The Ripple Github repository has a wide range of community driven designs for us who are interested in assisting to go through. You can also download the currently proposed symbol here. Two of the proposed symbols can be found below.

All this is good news for the Ripple community as it seeks to find a new symbol for the coin they are enthusiastic about. The process is decentralized in that it asks for the opinion and assistance of the Ripple community.