XRP vs Solana: Which Coin Will Rise Before Fed Decision?

XRP and Solana are two of the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization that have been gaining traction in recent months. Both coins have climbed over 30% in the past month, but they face a critical week ahead as the Federal Reserve announces its next rate decision on September 16.

The Senate holds a cloture vote on the CLARITY Act, which could clear the biggest procedural hurdle for XRP's permanent commodity classification. A successful cloture vote would not pass the bill outright but would be a significant step forward for XRP.

XRP's ETF inflows have been strong, with $110.49 million pulled in during the week of August 24, and cumulative net inflows reached $1.66 billion by August 28. Additionally, the XRP Ledger's fixCleanup3_3_0 upgrade has reached 82.86% validator consensus, above the 80% threshold needed to begin a two-week activation window.

Solana, on the other hand, has been gaining traction due to its institutional demand and network usage. Its ETF inflows have been steady, with $72.94 million added across seven sessions from August 24 through September 1. Solana's Alpenglow upgrade is also expected to cut transaction finality to 150 milliseconds, a significant improvement for the network.

Despite the strong catalysts for both coins, our view favors Solana due to its more robust ETF and staking data, which show demand that has already cleared a full market cycle. However, XRP's regulatory status remains uncertain, and a successful cloture vote on the CLARITY Act could push XRP past Solana's near-term gains.