Bitcoin Era Martin Lewis Reviews :For instance, a bank or payment service using Ripple would work out so much cheaper and provide full transparency over using traditional SWIFT funds. Whereas Bitcoin is used as a type of cash, Ripple is meant to provide customers the chance to rapidly and effectively exchange XRP for currencies or commodities such as gold or oil. The key's that there are no intermediaries and so someone using Ripple can rapidly sell their XRP for USD without the trouble of a third get together.