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Part of the new Community Beginners Guide series. Other guides currently in the series: Beginners Guide: Into. Quick overview of the series and purpose of the guides Beginners Guide: Creating a Cold Wallet. A simple step by step instructions into creating a secure cold wallet. Beginners Guide: Desktop Wallet Step by step instructions in downloading and installing XRP CHAT WALLET, the creation and activation of new wallet and the first few steps to becoming a ripple user. Beginners Guide: What is a wallet? How do my coins get stored? How does cryptocurrency work anyway? This post goes over what a wallet is, what the common different types of wallets are and their differences, and how wallets can be used at a basic level. Disclaimer: This post features the first few steps in getting started with XRP. Ripple, the ripple protocol, Gateways and other advanced features are not addressed in this guide. Services or links to services/ businesses are not endorsements of those services and are for informational purposes only. This guide is offered ‘as is’ and accepts no responsibility for any damage or losses incurred etc. Difficulty level: LOW XRP is the native currency of ripple and only exists within the network. Users need a ripple wallet to hold their individual XRP balances and other assets issued on the ripple network. Every wallet needs a small amount to activate and to link/ trust Gateways. This guide aims to help you in acquiring and taking your first XRP steps. Step 1. OPEN A WALLET First you need to choose a wallet. There are a few options, each offering different features. 1. Cold Wallet. This option is ideal for people looking for a secure storage, normally of high value amounts. A guide to a sample set-up can be found here. 2. Hosted Wallet/ Service. This is the simplest option; the provider takes care of all technical requirements (fees may apply). An example of this wallet type is Gatehub. Simply go to https://signin.gatehub.net/signup and follow the instructions. A side benefit is that these providers often auto fund your ripple wallet. Note: Trusted and regulated services comply with their local regulatory authorities and often require Know Your Clients (KYC) verification; this can add DELAYS TO INSTANT WALLET SETUP. 3. Plain Wallet. Similar to a cold wallet, plain wallets can be obtained by just generating ripple key pairs. As this can require more technical knowledge it will not be addressed in this guide, but more information can be found throughout the forum. Ripple wallets have two addresses, a public and secret key. A public key will look similar to rJR7gjNe3DpJ7kpB4CHBxjDKfwVMpTKPpj. Public keys always start with “r”. The public key can be shared or monitored on the ripple network and you can have funds sent to this wallet via this address from any other ripple wallet. A secret key will look like this sJR7gjNe3DpJ7kpB4CHBxjDKfwVMpTKPpj. Secret Keys will always start with “s”. The secret key is how you prove ownership over a wallet and gives withdraw rights. DO NOT SHARE. Also be sure to store in a secure place, if lost all funds stored on the wallet will also be lost. Step 2. FUND YOUR NEW WALLET/ BUY XRP If you used a hosted wallet/ service there is a good chance that your wallet is already activated. If you created a ripple wallet by other means you will still need to activate it with a small amount of XRP, the suggested amount is 30-50 XRP. If you are planning on acquiring more than the suggested amount of XRP the activation amount can/ will be deducted from your first deposit (although it is advised that you do the steps separately to ensure you have the correct address). You could ask generous members on this forum to help activate (be polite!). Due to abuse this forum no longer supports member- to- member activation. Buy XRP through an exchange or Gateway. Some sample Gateways are Bitstamp, Gatehub and Kraken. Individual steps on how to complete purchases though these gateways can be found on this Ripple page and on their individual websites. A list of other exchanges and Gateways can be found under the Links & Resources tab of the forum . Use a third party tool such as Bithomp (illustration on the left), these tools may use Paypal or other means to allow the purchase of small XRP amounts. Note: Ripple Charts (illustration on right) a service hosted by Ripple, shows updated market prices. Exchanges and Gateways may have different prices, including possible fees, but the charts should give you an idea of current XRP prices vs. many assets including national fiat, BTC, ETH, gold and more. Step 3. SEND YOU FIRST XRP This may vary depending on your wallet choice, but sending is easy. Just include the recipient ripple wallets public address (double check you have the correct public address) into the correct field and hit send. Some wallets may have QR codes that you can scan to simplify the process. Sample: Using Gatehub wallet (see illustrations below) 1. Select wallet 2. Select send 3.This will open a new window 4. Enter recipients public key 5. Enter amount to send 6. Confirm Step 4. REPEAT

<<UPDATED THE TUTORIAL TO USE A NEW WALLET>> Please see last post for notes -Updated Jan 12, 2018 Part of the new Community Beginners Guide series. Other guides in this series: Beginners Guide: Into. Quick overview of the series and purpose of the guides Beginners Guide: XRP First Steps Simple first steps to acquiring XRP including 1) opening a wallet, 2) wallet funding/ buying XRP, and 3) sending the first XRP. Beginners Guide: Desktop Wallet Step by step instructions in downloading and installing XRP CHAT WALLET, the creation and activation of new wallet and the first few steps to becoming a ripple user. Beginners Guide: What is a wallet? How do my coins get stored? How does cryptocurrency work anyway? This post goes over what a wallet is, what the common different types of wallets are and their differences, and how wallets can be used at a basic level. Disclaimer: This post features creating a cold ripple wallet and assumes you know what ripple, wallets and how secret vs. public keys work and is offered ‘as is’ and accepts no responsibility for any damage or losses incurred etc. Users are encouraged to take normal safety precautions when online (ex: antivirus, incognito mode, checking links, etc.) Difficulty level: LOW Hints: The images are also direct links What Is a Cold Wallet? Cold wallets, also referred to as a paper wallet, are secure backups of cryptocurrency wallets. They are nominally stored offline in secure locations and are used to secure high value amounts that are not accessed often (the opposite of a hot wallet which is usually stored in an easily accessed area for frequent use). The secret key is generated securely and is not shared with anyone other than the holder of the cold/paper wallet. Easy Way to Generate a Cold Wallet WARNING FOR APPLE USERS Link: Issues with Ripple Wallets and Safari Attention for MAC users: Use ONLY Google Chrome as your browser for all Ripple wallets listed here. Do not use Safari when using any "web" based wallets There are issues with older wallets and Safari's Javascript engine. There are some community tools that have been created to help in the creation of cold/ paper wallets. One such tool can be found at https://bithomp.com/paperwallet/. The page will look like the illustration below Your Ripple address, the public key that can be shared or monitored on the ripple network. You can have funds sent to this wallet via this address from any other ripple wallet. You Secrete Key, how you prove ownership over a wallet and gives withdraw rights. DO NOT SHARE Click here to create new wallet. Note: Although generated your new ripple wallet is not active until the network minimum of 20 XRP is deposited. How to Restore Funds from a Paper Wallet Option 1) - Use one of the light Ripple clients This one has a nice interface: https://www.theworldexchange.net/ This one is pretty raw & minimalist: https://jatchili.github.io/minimalist-ripple-client/ Option 2) - Use GateHub (requires identity verification) Register at https://gatehub.net Navigate to Wallets and click + (Add New) and import your Ripple secret key. Note: For more advanced users the the wallet could be generated on an offline or airgapped computer by copying the webpage code and transferring it by means of a memory device. Note: For added security be sure to clear your web browsers cache, have a machine free of viruses and take other general precautions. Visit Links & Resources and Our Picks for other tutorials for more advanced methods.

Part of the new Community Beginners Guide series. Other guides in the series so far: Beginners Guide: Intro. The purpose and directions behind the guides. Beginners Guide: XRP First Steps. How to acquire your first XRP and other essential first steps. Beginners Guide: Creating a Cold Ripple Wallet (2.0): Featuring the creation a cold/ paper wallet. This was formerly a service provided by Ripply.eu and now Bithomp. Free, simple and easy. Disclaimer: This post features downloading, installing and using a desktop wallet. This wallet is as is and XRPChat accepts no responsibility for any damages and/ or losses incurred etc. Difficulty level: HARD As requested by several members of the XRPChat forum this guide will cover setting up and the first few steps in using a desktop wallet. What is a Desktop Wallet? A desktop wallet stores all its information on a local machine (ie. your computer). It may transact trades online, but key elements remain with the user. Which Wallet to Use XRPChat’s Links & Resources tab features several desktop wallet versions, many of which are enhanced or direct copies of Ripple’s depreciated RippleTrade wallet. What wallet you choose to use depends on your technical comfort level and feature use requirements. Originally this guide was to feature the Rippex Desktop wallet, however, that particular wallet already features extensive steps, tutorials and videos to guide new users. These steps can be found here or by selecting the image to the right. As per the Beginner Guide mission statement we will avoid duplicating efforts already taken by others and instead focus on another wallet, the XRPChat wallet. Obtaining the XRPChat wallet The XRPChat wallet is hosted on GitHub, a trusted repository for source code. Visit the Links & Resources tab on the XRPChat forum Click on Xrp Chat Wallet under Desktop Wallets. This will bring you to the GitHub page. It can also be directly accessed via https://github.com/karl-os/XRP-CHAT-WALLET/releases Select your current operating system. For the remainder of this guide we will be using Windows (7/10). Note: the md5: b94d23f3800ec996716d2f4fb4783ca3 code is a security feature. This is a hash to prove authorship. In this case they should match the codes found here to prove that XRPChat is the one who published the code on GitHub. After selected a zip file will be downloaded (below image, 1) Extract and open (below image, 2 and 3) Install the ‘RippleAdminConsole-1.4.0-rc3’ application (below image, 4) After installation you will be presented with a terms or service/ disclaimer page. Accept after reading You will now be presented with the application home screen Note: This guide assumes you are creating a new wallet and not importing an existing one. Importing, or using some of the other options found on the welcome screen are for more advanced users and should be ignored for new beginners. Select Create new account Select Create an empty account, choose the destination you want the wallet file to be saved in and select save. Enter a new password and select Encrypt account The next screen shows the information entered so far. Your passphrase is your password to access your account. Your Ripple Address is the public key that can be shared or monitored on the ripple network. You can have funds sent to this wallet via this address from any other ripple wallet. Your secret key. Important! A secret key will look like this: sJR7Kolm8pJ7kpB4CbdjsuydwVMpTKPpj. Secret Keys will always start with “s”. This is how you prove ownership over a wallet and gives withdraw rights. DO NOT SHARE After confirming that secret key is written down you will be presented with a notice that the wallet is not activated yet. This wallet will need at least 20 XRP sent to it be activated and to establish a trust line. See here on steps on obtaining your first XRP. Once activated you can see the wallet Overview where it will show all current XRP assets as well as any gateway IOUs you may have Send tab brings up the direct send option. You can enter another ripple address and if required a destination tag (mostly limited to exchanges and/ or gateways) to send assets directly. The Trade tab is where you can place ask/ bid orders and see current markets. You will need to select Advanced (1) to enter the first gateway and currency pair (2). Please confirm with a specific gateway for their ripple address to ensure you have the correct address. Note: Normally there is a 5 XRP cost to each trustline (connected gateways), however there is a special rule in Ripple for new accounts, where you can create your first 2- trustlines even if the account has less than 30 XRP. In other words, when your account is activated with 20 XRP, you already can connect to two gateways and start deposit with fiats/cryptos. * Once entered the current bid, ask and spread information will be shown. Further down the page you have the option to enter your own bid and/or ask price and see the current order books. With that you should have a the basics needed to operate your desktop wallet. * thanks to @ripplerm for explaining this further.

Part of the new Community Beginners Guide series. Disclaimer: This post is directed at the existing community rather than newcomers to ripple, XRP or the forum. Difficulty level: LOW Hints: The images are also direct links The Issue With Ripple’s pivot to financial institutions there is no one guide for the average newly interested user who may want to dabble their toes into the wonderfully complex world of ripple (ex: if you don’t know why Ripple is sometime capitalized and other times not you are a new user). I have always been impressed with the community on this forum (and its predecessor) and its willingness to help newcomers through the joys and sorrows that is ripple. However, with the increasing interest in ripple and XRP, not just direct from the cryptocurrency crowd but from fintech virgins, it is becoming more and more apparent that there is a need for a basic introduction guide that newcomers can be pointed to. Solution To that end I am starting a Community Beginners Guide series. This is not to replace Links and Resources, which is a great feature, but to expand and enrich the section. The first post can be found here. I am opening this up to the community for suggestions on what to write about next, and to any who might want to participate in writing . Some simple guidelines: No need to re-invent the wheel. While Ripple is no longer supporting consumer facing services they still put out some information, such as how to purchase XRP. Some Gateways also put out how-to guides and obviously can explain their own services better. Also, it is always better to source material directly. Information changes, especially when dealing with evolving technology, the actual services have teams to upgrade information while the forum is volunteer run. Most links to these direct answers can already be found under the Links and Resources tab. Most be written in everyday English that could be understood by the average layman. This is a beginners guide, if there is demand/ interest a intermediate version could be considered at a later date. Ex: This means all acronyms, terminology, etc. have to be explained, or written out at least once. While keeping it simple we want to keep it uniform and professional. Have someone on the forum proof the post for errors (I will gladly help), have good images, correct links, etc. Also make sure to post first any disclaimers and a difficulty level. If officially part of the series make sure its mentioned in the title (see the first post as guide). The idea is that the first post on the subject can answer most if not all the needs of a beginner without them having to scroll down a few pages of comments to understand it. Make sure the disclaimer is clear and concise, we do not want to mislead people. For reference see the other existing guides as examples. I include a difficulty level as a reference guide to readers. A big thank in advance to everyone and big welcome and good luck to our new members. Guides so far: Beginners Guide: XRP First Steps Simple first steps to acquiring XRP including 1) opening a wallet, 2) wallet funding/ buying XRP, and 3) sending the first XRP. Beginners Guide: Creating a Cold Ripple Wallet (2.0): Featuring the creation a cold/ paper wallet. This was formerly a service provided by Ripply.eu and now Bithomp. Free, simple and easy. Beginners Guide: Desktop Wallet Step by step instructions in downloading and installing XRP CHAT WALLET, the creation and activation of new wallet and the first few steps to becoming a ripple user. Beginners Guide: What is a wallet? How do my coins get stored? How does cryptocurrency work anyway? This post goes over what a wallet is, what the common different types of wallets are and their differences, and how wallets can be used at a basic level.