# XRP Ledger Concepts

This section covers concepts that help you learn the "what" and "why" behind fundamental aspects of the XRP Ledger.

While XRP Ledger functionality is incredibly robust with equally vast number of possible use cases, here's a high-level view of four primary concepts that can help you understand the fundamentals of the XRP Ledger:

[![XRP Ledger concepts](img/xrp-ledger-concepts.png)](img/xrp-ledger-concepts.png)
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* **[XRP Ledger Basics](x)**
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      The XRP Ledger is a decentralized cryptographic ledger powered by a network of peer-to-peer `rippled` servers. The XRP Ledger is a shared, global ledger that is open to all and gives applications authoritative information about the state of its contents. Learn more about key concepts that will help you [understand the XRP Ledger](x).

* **[Payment System](x)**

      One of the primary purposes of the XRP Ledger is payment processing. Whether based on XRP or issued currencies, the XRP Ledger payment system enables people to send and receive value. Learn more about the key concepts that will help you [understand the XRP Ledger payment system](x).

* **[rippled Server](x)**

      A `rippled` server is the core peer-to-peer server that manages the XRP Ledger. Each  `rippled`  server connects to a network of peers, relays cryptographically signed transactions, and maintains a local copy of the complete shared global ledger. Anyone can run one. Learn more about key concepts that will help you [understand the `rippled` server](x).

* **[Consensus Network](x)**

      The peer-to-peer XRP Ledger network consists of many distributed `rippled` servers that accept and process transactions. This network determines which transactions are applied to each new version of the ledger based on the consensus process. Learn about the concepts that will help you [understand the XRP Ledger consensus network](x).