Prologue: My Fortune, Ripple

Last year, Ripple gave me financial freedom. I was lucky. But to simply dismiss it as "just luck" feels insufficient, as this event profoundly changed my life. I achieved financial independence, quit my job, and finally began the business I had always dreamed of.

Before fully diving into my new venture, I felt compelled to deeply understand Ripple. After all, Ripple was like a benefactor who completely transformed my life. Studying Ripple felt like paying respect—a proper courtesy—to something that had done so much for me. Yet, the more I learned, the clearer it became: Ripple was far from finished. In fact, it felt like it was just getting started.

Why do we work? Some say it's for self-realization, or because they love their jobs. Perhaps—but that only applies to a small minority. The vast majority of us work for money, whether because we need it to survive or desire more of it.

But financial stability isn't always achievable through labor alone, nor is success guaranteed in business. I myself experienced hardship as a child due to my father's business failure. While money solves many problems, its absence can take away everything.

The financial outlook ahead of us seems increasingly bleak. Housing prices continue to rise, the cost of living escalates relentlessly, education expenses discourage childbirth, the future of public pensions is uncertain, and AI advancements threaten to displace many jobs. In such a reality, luck becomes critically important.

I wrote this book with the sincere hope that the luck Ripple brought into my life could extend to others. Financial luck is often bestowed by wealthy parents or affluent spouses. However, we cannot choose our parents, and marrying solely for money isn't realistic. We must create our own luck through effort. Professionals earn luck through diligent study, and ordinary workers must seek it through investment—and investing wisely demands learning.

This book is intended to help ordinary people start their journey into understanding Ripple, a still relatively unfamiliar investment. Recently, I asked people around me if they invested in cryptocurrency, and their responses startled me. Most still hold deep-rooted skepticism. Thus, this book was written for them—people who know nothing about Ripple or cryptocurrency, or who might even disdain it, hiding behind ignorance.

That's why I've structured this book as a narrative, recounting my journey from an average person knowing nothing about crypto or Ripple, explaining topics in the sequence I myself learned them. I've gathered scattered information on Ripple and cryptocurrencies into one coherent storyline, intentionally excluding fake news or conspiracy theories, and arranging the information into logical sequences that made sense to me.

The book comprises three parts: Understanding Ripple, Ripple's Present, and Ripple's Future. In "Understanding Ripple," I cover the history of money, the basic concepts of cryptocurrency, and Ripple's role within that context. "Ripple's Present" explores Ripple Labs' partnerships with global financial institutions since the Ripple ledger’s launch in 2013, and the implications of its prolonged SEC lawsuit.

The third part, "Ripple's Future," contains the topics readers will likely find most intriguing. Here, I explore the potential of cryptocurrency and Ripple in the era of Trump 2.0, discuss the newly launched stablecoin RLUSD, the anticipated Ripple ETF approval this year, and the possibilities Ripple presents in the forthcoming blockchain-based international remittance market and CBDC era.

I acknowledge that my book has shortcomings. My time spent studying Ripple was relatively brief, and crypto wasn't originally my area of expertise—my career has primarily been about strategic planning for companies. However, these limitations could never stop my desire to share my good fortune. If this book helps even one reader find the same luck I had, I’ll consider it a success.

Wishing greater fortune to many more in the year 2025,

February 7, 2025, Bangbae-dong