XRP Could Overtake Bitcoin by Market Cap: Ripple Veteran

Ripple's David Schwartz says it's possible for XRP to surpass Bitcoin in market capitalization, but only if XRP surges. He notes that such a scenario would be more likely due to XRP's growth rather than Bitcoin's collapse.

Schwartz points out that the XRP Ledger was designed as a faster and more scalable alternative to Bitcoin for payments. As of now, XRP has a market capitalization of approximately $89.1 billion, making it the fifth-largest cryptocurrency, while Bitcoin is worth about 17.7 times more with a market cap of around $1.58 trillion.

In comparison, Schwartz notes that when XRP reached $0.25 in price, which was an extremely high valuation at the time, he predicted that such growth seemed implausible to him. Similarly, when Bitcoin crossed $100, it also seemed absurd. However, the market capitalization of XRP today is much larger than Bitcoin's was back then.

Schwartz also recalls a similar historical precedent where XRP dramatically narrowed Bitcoin's lead during an extraordinary cryptocurrency rally in late 2017 and early 2018. During this time, XRP briefly became the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, surpassing Ethereum.