Account creation

Similar to the Bitcoin system, Ripple has no signup process. Instead, we need to generate key pairs using cryptography. Since the process is mathematical, it can be done offline.

We start by generating a seed. A seed is a set of random characters. For the sake of simplicity, let's consider the seed as A34939449DJMABESEHLODAER. Once the seed is generated, a cryptographic function is used to derive a public key from it. We will use a simple function for the sake of understanding. Our function derives the public key from the seed by taking the first sixteen characters of the seed, A34939449DJMABES.

This is a one-way process: a public key cannot be used to derive the seed. Later, we can derive our Ripple identification by using the cryptographic hash function. This is the address we mention when we want to receive payments. This is done by creating the hash of the hash of the public key.

We will again use a simple function for the sake of understanding. We will strip the first eight characters to generate the first hash, A3493944. Then, we will strip the first four characters of the first hash to create the second hash,A349.

Now, A349 is our identity on the Ripple network. The key point to note here is that if you lose your seed, your account is compromised, since every other key can be derived from it. The following image demonstrates how the seed phrase is used to derive the public key and the Ripple identity:

This is a how a seed, public key, and account ID actually looks:

{ 
 "seed": "sstV9YX8k7yTRzdkRFAHmX7EVqMfX", 
 "public_key": "aBQXEw1vZD3geCX3rHL8qy8ooDomdFuxZcWrbRZKZjdDkUoUjGVS",
 "account_id": "rDGnaDqJczDAjwKHKdhGRJh2G7zJfZhj5q"
}