In the world of cryptocurrencies, few coins have a community as passionate as XRP (CRYPTO: XRP). XRP was originally designed as a fast payment solution in the banking system, and many investors now expect it to make a significant difference - surpassing Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) to become the world's leading cryptocurrency. Over the past twelve months, XRP's value has increased by 487%, while Bitcoin's value has only roughly doubled. But is this momentum enough for XRP to dethrone Bitcoin? Let's analyze.
Market gap: the slope is very steep
As of August 5, 2025:
Bitcoin's market capitalization: around $2.2 trillion
XRP's market capitalization: around $177 billion
To surpass Bitcoin, XRP would need a 13-fold increase while Bitcoin does not increase beyond that - something that is nearly impossible for a liquid and influential asset like BTC.
Even if Bitcoin's value drops by 50%, XRP still needs to increase by 6-7 times - which means trillions of dollars of new capital would be required for XRP alone, something no other coin has been able to achieve so far, including Ethereum.
ETFs and cash flows: the real picture
To understand how difficult this is, look at the inflows to spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States - just $19.2 billion for the entire year of 2025. This is just a drop in the ocean compared to the $2 trillion required to convert XRP to Bitcoin.
The likelihood of funds flowing into XRP at this scale requires global institutional adoption, which no blockchain project has truly succeeded in achieving.
Supply: Barriers from the structure of XRP itself
Unlike Bitcoin, which has a limited supply of 21 million coins (it is believed that around 20% of them have been lost forever), XRP has a mechanism for pulling it from the Ripple escrow. While this issuance is transparent and time-limited, it weakens the supply, which could negatively impact the price unless demand rises faster than the issuance rate.
The "perfect storm" scenario: there is still a faint hope
XRP can only outperform Bitcoin in an extremely unlikely and ideal scenario:
Ripple has achieved remarkable success: the entire technology roadmap has been executed flawlessly, attracting a large number of financial institutions and major investors. XRP has become the virtual platform for:
Tokenization of real assets
Stablecoin storage
Cross-border payments
Securities transaction settlement
Bitcoin is in serious crisis:
Criticized for its high electricity consumption (proof of work)
Mining activities banned or restricted in areas like the European Union and Norway
Risks posed by quantum computers
Global tax and regulatory policies no longer favor Bitcoin
XRP is becoming a safer, greener, and more regulatory-friendly alternative for institutional funds.
The question: Should you invest everything in XRP?
While the dream of XRP surpassing Bitcoin seems tempting with its massive profit potential, it relies on a series of low-probability conditions occurring simultaneously.
Instead of betting on the possibility of "volatility", investors should view XRP as a valuable asset in the field of cross-border payments and tokenization of real assets, where demand is likely to grow strongly in the coming years.
Even if it fails to dethrone Bitcoin, XRP could still see significant growth if these trends continue to expand.
In short:
❌ Do not expect XRP to outperform BTC in the near future
✅ XRP should be considered an investment in the direction of digital payments and finance
🚀 There is still a lot of growth potential, but we must be realistic about expectations
If you need me to write a more in-depth analysis about the impact of the token or the technological differences between XRP and BTC, let me know.