What do you get when you combine tech and currency? Cryptocurrency! You likely are familiar with the popular Bitcoin, but have you heard about Ripple (aka XRP)? Ripple has slowly been gaining traction over the past year, and recently has begun to shoot up in value. You can check out the chart for Ripple at the bottom of this article. Many think this coin has more potential than any other cryptocurrency out there due to its speed and backing by banks.
So how do you buy it? That’s the toughest part. Many sites do not currently allow the purchase of Ripple. Out of the limited sites that have it, they usually require ID verification that can take days to weeks (and more often it’s weeks with the volume of sign-ups lately). However, there is a way around this. I’m going to be showing you a step-by-guide on how to purchase Ripple within less than an hour.
1. Sign-up on Coinbase
First things first. You need to purchase another cryptocurrency to convert into Ripple. This sounds like it’d take longer than purchasing it directly, but this will allow you to avoid the lengthy verification process many sites require before purchasing Ripple with traditional currency (USD, EUR, etc.). We’re going to use Coinbase. No ID verification is needed to sign-up, but you will be limited to depositing no more than $400 per week until ID is provided. If you use this link to Coinbase to sign up, you’ll get a free $10 worth of Bitcoin once you deposit $100 or more (it’s a win-win: I’ll also receive $10). The whole sign-up process will take you around 10 minutes and you’ll have to answer a few questions to verify your identity (but no physical ID is required).
2. Purchase Litecoin or Ethereum
Using Coinbase, purchase however much worth of Litecoin or Ethereum that’ll you’ll want to convert to Ripple by going into the Buy/Sell tab. It doesn’t matter which one you choose; they end up taking similar amounts of time to convert to Ripple (Litecoin is a little quicker transferring, but requires an additional step at the end). Coinbase allows you to purchase with a credit/debit card. This is going to be the fastest method to purchase the coins (almost instant). Do not purchase Bitcoin for the sole purpose of converting to Ripple. Bitcoin transaction fees are sky-high. Both Litecoin and Ethereum transaction fees are kept to a minimum (around $1-2 in most instances). Plus the amount of time required to transfer these two cryptocurrencies that you’ll be doing in the next step is much shorter than with Bitcoin (a few minutes compared to several hours in my experience).
3. Sign-Up on Binance
Head over to Binance and setup an account. Although other exchanges are available to convert Litecoin/Ethereum to Ripple, I have found Binance to be the quickest (transactions are almost instant). The sign-up will only take you a few minutes.
4. Send Your Litecoin or Ethereum from Coinbase to Binance
We’re going to be sending those Litecoins/Ethereum we purchased at Coinbase over to our Binance account. First we need to find the right address we’ll be sending these coins to on Binance by going to Fund -> Deposits Withdrawals on the drop-down menu at the top the page. Then scroll down to find either Litecoin or Ethereum depending on what you purchased. Click on Deposit to the right of the coin name, and it’ll pop up with a deposit address. Copy this address and head back over to Coinbase. Once into your Coinbase account, go into the Accounts tab. Click Send on whatever currency you’d like to send and paste the address from Binance into the recipient box. Then type in what value of coins you’d like to send (you can type in how many coins or just the value in USD to send). Then hit Continue. Before sending the coins, Coinbase will prompt you to enter a verification number sent to your phone as a text. Type this in and hit Confirm. The transfer usually takes 5-15 minutes (the longest wait time I’ve had is about 15 minutes).
5. Convert Litecoin/Ethereum to XRP.
On Binance, go to Exchange -> Basic from the drop-down menu on top.
If you originally purchased Ethereum follow these steps: Click on ETH in the top right box on the page -> scroll down to XRP/ETH and click on it -> on the bottom of the page you’ll now be able to purchase XRP by typing in the amount you’d like to purchase and clicking Buy XRP (Binance will show you the max amount you are able to purchase).
If you originally purchased Litecoin follow these steps (there is an additional step since we first need to convert to ETH and then into XRP): Click on ETH in the top right box on the page -> scroll down to LTC/ETH and click on it -> on the bottom of the page you now will be buying ETH with your Litecoin (LTC) -> type in the amount of LTC to sell and click Sell LTC (it may take a few seconds to a minute to convert your LTC to ETH)-> Go back up to the box in the top right and click on ETH -> scroll down to XRP/ETH and click on it -> on the bottom of the page you’ll now be able to purchase XRP by typing in the amount you’d like to purchase and clicking Buy XRP (Binance will show you the max amount you are able to purchase).
So that’s it! You now own some Ripple. You may now keep your Ripple in Binance or transfer it to your own wallet for some added security (I’ll be discussing this in a future article). Read articles by Investors Centre for more information about investing and trading.