Out of the top cryptocurrencies by market cap, one of the most contentious is XRP. The crypto token backing the Ripple payment protocol seems to draw either bears or bulls, with very little between. While some express concern about the centralization of the Ripple network and the XRP’s utility as a token, others are extremely excited by the banking partnerships they’ve been able to achieve.
Speaking strictly by the numbers, XRP made headlines in September when, after dropping as low as US$0.26, it shot up more than double in the space of just a week. It saw even more pronounced gains in the bull run of late 2017, going in less than a month from under 25 cents to an all-time high of $3.75.
Whatever your stance on Ripple and XRP, it has shown the ability to make investors significant gains in a small amount of time. This guide is going to tell you the best places to get XRP tokens, so you don’t miss out on the next spike.
XRP Wallets
The first step is to ensure you have a wallet capable of storing XRP tokens. You can keep your coins on an exchange wallet. But doing so is risky, as you don’t have complete control over your tokens, and are at the mercy of the exchange’s security measures.
Hardware wallets, while costly relative to a software version, are among the safest and most secure options. The Ledger Nano S has long been the leader in this category and offers support for XRP. The Trezor Model T wallet, Ledger’s biggest competitor, does not just yet.
The Toast wallet is a popular alternative, available for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. The Toast is an open-source wallet made for XRP, which offers a simple, no-frills experience, but maintains the security necessary for a crypto wallet.
Exarpy is another option. A web-based wallet, Exarpy can be accessed from anywhere. Made specifically to interact with the Ripple network, it can be a good option if you’re expecting to make XRP transactions often. It does involve a small fee per transaction.
Once you’ve chosen a wallet, it’s time to buy XRP! Let’s check out the best places out there right now…
Changelly
Changelly is a very simple, no-frills crypto exchange, which allows users to swap between a wide range of currencies.
Admittedly there are many better options – more powerful, more secure – if you just want to trade. But Changelly’s biggest value is that it provides a Fiat gateway, through a partnership with payment processor Simplex. This allows you to buy several currencies with a credit card, including BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, and XRP.
The ability to pay with USD or EUR makes Changelly a good option for those looking to buy their first cryptocurrency. Users can then send coins to a larger exchange when they’re ready to start trading.
Coinmama
Unlike Changelly, Coinmama is not an exchange, but purely a place for people to buy cryptocurrency. At this point, people in 188 countries can buy one of eight coins with a credit or a debit card. Along with XRP, Coinmama currently offers BTC, ETH, BCH, LTC, ADA, QTUM and ETC.
To use Coinmama, you’ll need to go through a signup and verification process, which is quick and easy for most people. Then, to make a purchase, all you need is a credit/debit card and a wallet address for the coins you’re buying. A painless way for those wishing to invest more into crypto.
Kraken
Kraken is a high-level exchange, putting through tens of millions in trade volume each day. They offer trading pairs for most of the top 10-15 cryptocurrencies, and with bank deposit option for USD, EUR, JPY, and CAD, Kraken lets users invest new money into crypto very easily.
Kraken doesn’t offer credit, debit or PayPal deposits, only wire transfers, so it’s not suitable for traders everywhere in the world. However, if you are in a supported region, Kraken is one of the safest and most trusted ways to start investing in and trading XRP.
Binance
Unlike other entries on this list, Binance doesn’t have a Fiat deposit option. Which means you will need to have Bitcoin, Ethereum or another currency already before you can make any trades. If this is not an issue, though, Binance is probably the best exchange you can use today.
As the world’s largest exchange, Binance offers some of the highest levels of security and support around. They also have almost every currency worth knowing about available to trade and will delist or suspend currencies that are showing red flags. Binance is shown to be popular with XRP users too, with 23.3% of the total XRP trade volume over the last 30 days (the most out of any exchange).
You can see our guide on how to buy XRP tokens from Binance, here.
Bitfinex
Launched in 2012, Bitfinex is one of the oldest crypto exchanges around and remains one of the highest volume exchanges in the crypto sphere today. The offer a huge amount of trading pairs and allow users to buy many coins with USD, EUR, GBP or JPY – including XRP.
Bitfinex is not suitable for beginner traders, as they need a significant minimum account balance, as well as fees charged for inactivity. But it is one of the market leaders for professional traders or traders looking to make large purchases. As of writing this, Bitfinex has seen over $1.2 billion in USD/XRP trades in 30 days – the most of any exchange.
Coinbase
Coinbase, one of the largest and most popular exchanges in the world, announced on February 2018 that it allows users to purchase XRP using the Coinbase.com platform. At the same time, a few weeks later, Coinbase Pro added support to XRP as well.
Using this platform, it will be possible for users to acquire the third-largest digital asset in the market in terms of market capitalization. There are three different trading pairs to trade XRP on Coinbase, including XRP/USD, XRP/EUR and XRP/BTC. The total XRP trading volume on Coinbase is close to 2.85% according to data provided by CoinMarketCap.
Coinbase is a very user-friendly cryptocurrency platform that allows individuals and investors to have access to digital assets through bank accounts, PayPal, credit cards and other solutions. This is very positive because many individuals would be able to acquire the virtual currency in a fast and easy way.
This digital currency exchange has never experienced a hack or attack resulting in the loss of cryptocurrencies from users. Thus, individuals would not only have the possibility to purchase XRP in an easy way, but they would also be sure their funds are safe.
The fiat currencies accepted by the cryptocurrency platform include the U.S. dollar, the euro and the British pound.
Want to learn more?
You can read our full Ripple price prediction article and see what it would take for Ripple XRP to hit $5 in our full breakdown. You can also see the latest news through a site search on Ripple.