XRP was built to solve a problem gold never could, according to Vet, a contributor to the XRP Ledger Foundation, an XRP Ledger dUNL validator, and co-founder of XRP Café. In a recent interview, he laid out why he believes the token’s core design gives it a role no previous asset has ever been able to fill.
Why Vet Compares XRP to Gold
Vet compares XRP to gold, calling both neutral assets that have no single issuer. “Gold is accepted everywhere,” he said, describing it as a neutral asset that “everybody can have and trust independently of a third party.”
But he was quick to point out where gold’s usefulness breaks down. Moving physical gold across borders is slow and difficult, and verifying its authenticity adds another layer of friction. “You put it into a vault,” he said. “If you want to make a payment with gold, it’s very, very difficult.”
Gold’s Trust, Without Gold’s Problems
Vet argues that native cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and XRP inherit gold’s core properties, decentralization, no single issuer, universal trust, while removing the physical barriers that make gold impractical to actually use. XRP retains gold-like trust properties but settles transactions in just seconds, letting value move globally at internet speed while remaining fully verifiable. “Everybody can verify it’s real XRP,” he said, calling that combination something that “has never existed before.”
How XRP Functions as a Bridge
According to Vet, the XRP Ledger puts these properties to work through a specific mechanism. The XRP Ledger has a built-in feature called auto bridging to improve liquidity, a system that connects different currencies based on their available liquidity, using XRP as the connecting asset in the process.
He explained why XRP specifically fills that role rather than any other token on the ledger. As a neutral, jurisdiction-free asset, XRP can be held and transacted without censorship, making it a natural fit for bridging currencies that otherwise wouldn’t connect efficiently.
A Familiar Comparison From Traditional Finance
To make the concept easier to grasp, Vet compares XRP’s bridge role to how the dollar works in traditional finance. Just as holding US dollars gives someone a stable, widely accepted position from which to convert into British pounds, euros, or yen, XRP is designed to serve a similar function within crypto markets, sitting in the middle as a liquidity bridge between otherwise disconnected currencies and assets.
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