Glossary
XRP Ledger
A payments-focused blockchain launched in 2012, using a Federated Byzantine Agreement consensus and a built-in DEX. Native asset is XRP.
The XRP Ledger (XRPL) is one of the oldest non-Bitcoin blockchains. Consensus is Federated Byzantine Agreement: each node selects its own trusted "Unique Node List" and agreement happens when those lists overlap sufficiently.
The protocol has a native DEX with order-book matching, native issuance of arbitrary tokens, and decimal-precision arithmetic suitable for fiat-style accounting. Ripple Labs maintains the reference implementation and runs much of the validator infrastructure; the relationship between the company and the open protocol is a long-running governance debate.