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Unlike bitcoin, ripple has a physical base in San Francisco, USA. It has attracted tens of millions of dollars worth of investment leading to it being dubbed the bitcoin that banks, such as Santander, like.

It does not hold the level of anonymity that bitcoin does, which is seen as a “revolutionary” tool. There seems to be more trust placed in ripple by financial institutions.

Ripple is a protocol that allows the participant to have a "ledger" of decentralised operations but is still certified by some large nodes of the Network, such as telephone operators or academic institutions, like MIT.

This certification has lead to ripple doubling in price during the last week of December. Wednesday saw the cryptocurrency jump by 18 percent to an all time high of $2.90.