Table of Contents for
Ripple Quick Start Guide

Version ebook / Retour

Cover image for bash Cookbook, 2nd Edition Ripple Quick Start Guide by Febin John James Published by Packt Publishing, 2018
  1. Ripple Quick Start Guide
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright and Credits
  4. Ripple Quick Start Guide
  5. Dedication
  6. About Packt
  7. Why subscribe?
  8. Packt.com
  9. Contributors
  10. About the author
  11. About the reviewer
  12. Packt is searching for authors like you
  13. Table of Contents
  14. Preface
  15. Who this book is for
  16. What this book covers
  17. To get the most out of this book
  18. Download the example code files
  19. Conventions used
  20. Get in touch
  21. Reviews
  22. Getting Started with Ripple
  23. The need for decentralization
  24. Introduction to blockchain
  25. Introduction to Bitcoin
  26. Inefficiencies in payment systems
  27. International money transfer through Bitcoin
  28. Disadvantages of Bitcoin
  29. Ripple
  30. International money transfer through Ripple
  31. The Ripple Protocol
  32. Account creation
  33. Reserve
  34. Transactions
  35. Multisigning
  36. Consensus
  37. Important properties of the consensus protocol
  38. Ledger versions
  39. Validation
  40. Advantages of Ripple
  41. Currency agnostic
  42. Simplified consensus
  43. Low fee
  44. Reduced foreign exchange cost
  45. Pathfinding algorithm
  46. Adaptable cryptography
  47. Anti-spam mechanism
  48. Potential risks of Ripple
  49. Regulatory issues
  50. Trust Issues
  51. Security vulnerabilities
  52. Problems of being an open protocol
  53. Summary
  54. Working with Ripple Currency XRP
  55. Types of wallets
  56. Online wallets
  57. Desktop/mobile wallets
  58. Offline wallets
  59. Hardware wallets
  60. Paper wallets
  61. How do I choose my wallet?
  62. Setting up a Ripple account
  63. Activating the Ripple account
  64. Making an international transfer
  65. Trading XRP
  66. Importing an existing wallet
  67. Setting up an offline wallet
  68. Protecting your Ripples
  69. Don't leave your Ripples on centralized exchanges
  70. Make backups 
  71. Use antivirus software
  72. Disable browser plugins
  73. Store Ripples in multiple wallets 
  74. For big sums, use cold wallets
  75. Use reputable wallets
  76. Important things you must remember
  77. Summary
  78. Applications of Ripple
  79. High speed and low-cost payments 
  80. xCurrent
  81. How does it work?
  82. Advanced payment applications
  83. Cross-currency payments
  84. How does it work?
  85. Checks
  86. How does it work?
  87. Payment channels
  88. How does it work?
  89. Escrow
  90. How does it work?
  91. Initial coin offering
  92. Decentralized exchange
  93. Debunking misconceptions about Ripple
  94. Ripple and XRP are not the same
  95. Funds lockup
  96. No mining
  97. Limited smart contracts
  98. Important things to remember
  99. Summary
  100. Getting Started with the Ripple API
  101. Connecting to the Ripple test network
  102. Setting up the development environment
  103. First Ripple application
  104. Sending money 
  105. Prepare transaction
  106. Sign transaction
  107. Submit transaction
  108. Summary
  109. Developing Applications Using the Ripple API
  110. Sending checks
  111. Cashing checks
  112. Creating a time-held escrow
  113. Creating a conditionally-held escrow
  114. Important things you must remember
  115. Summary
  116. Other Books You May Enjoy
  117. Leave a review - let other readers know what you think

Decentralized exchange

Trade exchanges allow users to trade assets of value. However, most of these exchanges are centralized. Centralized exchanges hold assets of their users. If a user wants to start trading with their 1,000 XRP, they need to send this money to Ripple address of the centralized exchange to start trading. The problem with being centralized is that exchanges are highly vulnerable. In the past decade, a lot of centralized exchanges were hacked and assets worth billions of dollars were stolen.

The following is a list of past attacks and the assets stolen:

Exchange Name Date  Asset Stolen
MtGox March 2014 850,000 BTC
Cryptsy July 2014 300,00 LTC & 13,000 BTC
Mintpal December 2014 3,894 BTC
Bitstamp January 2015 19,000 BTC
Bter February 2015 7,000 BTC
Bitfinex August 2016 120,00 BTC
Nicehash December 2017 4000 BTC
Coincheck January 2018 523,000,000 NEM
Bitgrail February 2018 17,000,000 NANO
CoinSecure April 2018 483 BTC

 

An alternative to centralized exchanges is decentralized exchanges. Decentralized exchanges enable the exchange of value without holding the user's assets. You don't have to transfer your asset to a third party for you to start trading. Here, transactions happen directly between users and no middleman is involved. Hence, decentralized exchange improves security and drastically reduces cost at the same time. 

Ripple contains a functional decentralized exchange that allows users to trade issued currencies for XRP or each other. Traders who wish to buy or sell currencies can create offers on Ripple. These offers are utilized for cross-currency payments, where the sender's money is bought by the trader through their offer; later the trader's money is sent to the receiver and the currency exchange is completed.  Ripple has the feature of AutoBridging to reduce exchange cost. If the direct exchange from INR to USD is costly, then Ripple automatically exchanges INR to XRP and XRP to USD to reduce exchange costs.

The following demonstrates the functionality of a decentralized exchange inside Ripple: