Ripple's Garlinghouse: Payment Networks Are Broken, XRP Is the Fix

Ripple's CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently explained why XRP exists in under two minutes. In his explanation, he compared payment networks to outdated systems from the early days of the internet, pointing out that just like email networks couldn't communicate with each other back then, payment networks today work in a similar way.

Garlinghouse used the example of Venmo and PayPal, noting that even though one company owns both platforms, users can't move money between them. He described this disconnect as illogical. When it comes to international transfers, Garlinghouse said that they are painful, expensive, and slow, with mistakes happening often and funds disappearing for weeks.

Ripple's solution is XRP, which settles transactions in under 5 seconds anywhere in the world at a cost of fractions of a penny per transaction. Garlinghouse emphasized that banks don't need to understand blockchain; they just need a system that solves speed and cost issues.