XRP Basics
For the Beginner
xRP
Global digital currency
We all need to start somewhere
the basics
topics have been listed in specific order to gradually build a complete picture
to buy something you need
money & Currency
Evolution of money
Over human history we have used various methods of ‘Money’ to exchange something for something as a payment, this something must be accepted as valuable, portable and exchangeable
9,000 years ago some people used the Cowrie shell, which was used to make jewellery
4,000 years ago some people used bushels of wheat
2,600 years ago the first stamped gold coins were used
1,500 years ago the first paper money was used it was like an I owe you.
In a world of computers digital money is now being used, when you use your phone app to pay for an item the money is digital.
Currency
As various types of money came into use it became difficult for everyone to agree what was acceptable and how valuable the items were. It would be easier to choose a small number of items and give them a set value, then everyone agrees to use this to buy and sell with.
The nations ruler will then say this money is now our Currency.
In past history every country had their own Currency, this would have been set of Gold, Copper or other types of metal coins, the size and weight changed their value.
Around the world today types of currency are the Great British Pound, the Dollar, the Peso etc. The money that makes the currency would be a five pound note, a one pound coin etc.
Currency can be made of any type of money as long as the people accept it. Computers and smart phones has made much of the world population move to internet banking, the currency is the same, the Pound, Dollar and Peso etc but the Money is changing from notes and coins to digital internet money. So we say the currency is digital or more commonly we say Digital Currency.
to buy something you need
Tokens
Tokens
A token is an easy way to give someone something that represents something else. Tokens come in many shapes forms, in the casino they are small plastic discs, you can print a token in the newspaper or on a cereal box to collect for a product or a discount.
In an arcade some games give you printed tokens if you win, if you collect 1,000 tokens you can go to the counter and swap the token for a fluffy toy, so you used the token to get a toy, another way of saying this is that you utilised (used) the token to get a fluffy toy, so this printed token is said to be a Utility Token.
A utility token can be used within a computer to move data inside it or the data can be sent outside to the internet, as all the information inside the computer is digital information we call this type of token a Digital Token
The unbreakable code
Cryptography
Cryptography
If you use your computer to log into your banks website how do you know someone bad is not capturing the data from your computer and stealing your log details. To stop thieves stealing your information the banks web page puts your login details into a mathematical equation called encryption, this creates a small piece of data that hides your details within it, this small piece of data is called a Token, whoever gets the token will then use decryption to read the token data and if the details are correct you can log into the banks website. The science of using encryption and decryption is called Cryptography.
As Cryptography was used to create a token the token is called a Cryptographic Token
Going back to the arcade story again we were given a printed token from the game, we gave the token to the person at the counter and they gave us a fluffy toy, now we want to login to our banks website so we enter our login details into the banks web page and the web page created a Cryptograhic digital token that was given (sent) to the login server and the server gave us access to our bank account.
Cryptocurrency is a digital Money
Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency
Glancing back over what you have learnt so far you will see I have highlighted certain key words, we will now bring these together to explain how we get to the Crptocurrency called XRP!
We know that Money which is a £50 note, a 1 penny coin and every denomination in between is called Currency, this money can be in your pocket or we can make it digital by taking it to a bank and they put digital currency into your online bank account (remember money was they paper notes and coins we gave them which they keep, they then give you the same amount of currency as a digital currency), you can then use your mobile to shop online.
Here comes the fun bit! anyone can create their own private digital currency! But, many countries do allow a private digital currencies, we will come back to the law bit later.
Cryptocurrency
Glancing
Goi