The article compares XRP and Solana, two top-10 cryptocurrencies by market cap that both have spot ETFs and real-world use cases. XRP rose 580% in 2024 and about 22,000% since it began trading in 2013, driven by Ripple's payment network, but the author argues that stablecoins, a $300 billion industry, are eroding XRP's role in cross-border payments and explain its recent stagnation. Solana gained 924% in 2023 and hit an all-time high of $294 in early 2025, and the author sees it as a rival to Ethereum in DeFi, with the upcoming Alpenglow upgrade expected to speed up processing and raise throughput. The author chooses Solana over XRP because it is a full smart-contract platform that could overtake XRP in market cap as more applications run on it, while noting that investing in Solana carries high risk.
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