When people dream about investing in cryptocurrencies, the fantasy often ends with imagining how they will spend millions of dollars earned. However, very few assets have the power to turn a modest investment into such amounts.

And as the market moves towards new highs again, two of the industry's leaders, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), continue to emerge in conversations among millionaire-makers.

One is hailed as digital gold; the other quietly transfers real cash globally. Which of these two coins is more likely to bring wealth to investors?

Bitcoin Demonstrates the Power of Scarcity

Bitcoin's protocol limits the supply to 21 million coins. Therefore, it cannot be devalued in the way that fiat currencies must endure. Since many coins have been burned, lost, or rendered inaccessible, there will always be far fewer coins than the number available for sale, making the supply proposition even more enticing.

Demand is the other half of the equation, and in Bitcoin's case, demand also seems very favorable.

Just in May alone, cryptocurrency funds attracted about $7.1 billion in net inflows, most of which flowed into Bitcoin-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs), bringing their total assets under management to a record $167 billion. Other data indicates that a total of $11 billion has flowed into digital asset products over the past seven weeks. This is undeniable evidence that Bitcoin is being sought after by asset managers.



Scarcity combined with new buyers is a powerful combination for prices. A very large percentage of Bitcoin is currently being held at profits based on recent prices. Fewer anxious hands holding coins that are below lower price levels will lead to fewer sudden supply shocks.

If ETFs experience outflows or regulators reverse course, then the circulating supply (the coins available for public trading) will loosen, and the price momentum could quickly stagnate. Even then, the halving of the coin every four years or so will continue to shrink the new supply, mathematically increasing the likelihood that any downturns are only temporary rather than permanent.

Now is the time to make waves. With a $10,000 investment today, Bitcoin would need to reach a market capitalization of about $210 trillion to make you a millionaire. For reference, this figure is nearly double the total gross domestic product of the entire global economy in 2024.

In other words, don't expect a small investment in this coin to turn you into a millionaire.

The Utility of XRP Is Both a Blessing and a Risk

While Bitcoin relies on scarcity, XRP is built to transfer money cheaply like an email, meaning it is almost free. Ripple, the issuer of XRP, is building it into the core of an entire ecosystem of financial products and services aimed at the needs of the largest institutional investors.

A recent guide from Ripple highlights global e-commerce, which has now surpassed a total value of $6 trillion in annual sales, as a low-hanging fruit for introducing XRP to the market for faster settlements. Even if it only captures a small fraction of those payments, institutions will have to buy quite a bit of XRP, driving the price of this coin higher.

Technical momentum is also increasing. In March, the latest upgrade to the XRP ledger activated native automated market makers, allowing anyone to contribute liquidity and earn fees without cumbersome smart contract solutions.

This feature could deepen on-chain liquidity and make XRP's price spreads more competitive with fiat currencies, which would make institutional investors more interested in sending their capital on-chain, as it can support the transaction scales that they need.

In April, Ripple introduced its new stablecoin RLUSD into Ripple Payments, which now claims a trading volume of nearly $10 billion since its launch in December. This stablecoin is hosted on the XRP network, so its value contributes to the total value of the chain and the coin.

However, there are still some obstacles.

The economy of XRP depends heavily on Ripple's business decisions and the development efforts of its features. A strategic misstep or a new legal trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission could severely dampen adoption and reduce the price of this coin. Other chains are competing with it to attract the same institutional capital, and in some segments, they are winning.

Therefore, the utility of the currency does not guarantee that the price will increase.

Which Coin Has a Higher Chance of Making You a Millionaire?

Both XRP and Bitcoin cannot make you a millionaire overnight. However, both can be excellent wealth-building tools if you are willing to dollar-cost average into a position and hold that position for a few years.

With that said, if your goal is simply to accumulate a sum that could exceed seven figures within one or two decades, then Bitcoin's path is clearer. It only requires continuous demand driven by scarcity to succeed, which is something that ETFs, an increasing number of corporate treasuries holding it, and potentially even governments will provide.

On the contrary, XRP requires both stable protocol evolution and a comprehensive shift of the company towards ledger-based payments across several different categories to see its price reach new heights. That could happen, but it involves more moving parts and a longer adoption curve, so it is not a reliable millionaire-making tool.