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Can Ripple (XRP) surpass Litecoin?

Ripple (XRP) has made waves over the past few weeks due to it’s surge in price. This surge in price comes on news that Bank of America will begin using Ripple (XRP) to transfer money. 

That is huge news. And the cryptocurrency market reacted accordingly. 

In fact, Ripple surged past Tether to become the third largest cryptocurrency by market cap. The question, of course, is will this stick? Or will Ripple (XRP) pull back and allow other cryptocurrencies, such as Litecoin (LTC), to surpass it?

This article will explore those questions in great detail. We will also provide plenty of context about Ripple (XRP). 

What is Ripple (XRP)?

In a nutshell, Ripple (XRP) is a cryptocurrency that allows financial institutions to quickly transfer large sums of money internationally. It has a somewhat widespread adoption by banks for internal use. 

It does have a rather large centralization with financial institutions and Ripple controlling most of the current supply of XRP, though. 

That said, it is one of the largest cryptocurrencies with a market cap of $28.4 billion USD and a daily trading volume of nearly $16 billion USD.

There is no doubt that Ripple is a major cryptocurrency.

What is the difference between Ripple (XRP) and Litecoin (LTC)?

difference between Ripple (XRP) and Litecoin (LTC)

We already explained Ripple, but what exactly is the difference between Ripple and Litecoin? 

For one, Litecoin is aimed at consumers rather than major institutions. Basically, think of Litecoin as a faster, lower fee version of Bitcoin. 

The difference in mechanics between Ripple and Litecoin are also significant and important to fully understand the difference between the price. 

Litecoin has a maximum supply of 84 billion coins compared to Ripple’s maximum supply of 100 million coins. This means that Ripple will always have a lower price than Litecoin (without burning coins) due to having a lower supply. 

The other difference is that Litecoin is much more decentralized than Ripple. In fact, Ripple has such a high level of centralization that many cryptocurrency experts do not even view it as a real cryptocurrency. 

In summary, we would call Litecoin a more consumer focused cryptocurrency compared to Ripple being a more institution focused cryptocurrency. 

That might sound bad for Ripple, but it does have some advantages. The main advantage, of course, being that Ripple is much more likely to receive mass adoption and have a much more stable price. 

Will Ripple’s (XRP) price ever surpass Litecoin?

It is unlikely that Ripple’s price will ever surpass Litecoin. As explained previously, Litecoin has a 16% smaller maximum supply of coins than Ripple. 

Of course, Ripple could burn some XRP. Alternatively, Litecoin could have a major crash (likely due to a hacking incident or fork) and become completely worthless. 

However, those are edge cases and not worth considering for any long term planning, but they are a small possibility. 

Has Ripple (XRP) already surpassed Litecoin (LTC)?

Ripple surpassing Litecoin depends on the metric you use to measure the success of a cryptocurrency. 

In terms of price per coin, Ripple has not surpassed Litecoin and likely never will. 

The all time high (ATH) of Ripple is about $3.40. Litecoin has an ATH of approximately $360. 

Of course, price per coin is not the best metric for success because the price per coin is mostly a function of the total supply of coins on the market. Ripple simply has so many coins that it will likely never surpass Litecoin in price. 

However, Ripple surpasses Litecoin when it comes to real world use. We do admit that some people use Litecoin for transactions and sending currency, but the majority of Litecoin is likely purchased for investment purposes.

Ripple, on the other hand, has real world use. That use is mostly by banks, but it is much more real world use than any other cryptocurrency.

Now, that might not sound important. But what is the real purpose of cryptocurrency? Investment or real world use?

In our opinion, the amount of real world use (outside of investment) is a much more important metric than the price or trading volume.  

What is a better investment: Ripple (XRP) or Litecoin (LTC)?

In our opinion, Ripple is a safer investment. Financial institutions hate uncertainty, so the price  has a tendency to stay stable. But small risk means small reward. 

Litecoin, on the other hand, has a tendency to track the price of Bitcoin. And Bitcoin is set for a big year. 

This means that Litecoin has the potential to soar past it’s previous all time high. Ripple will likely not rise past it’s all time high. 

But no one really knows the future price of cryptocurrency, so it’s worth investing in both coins to hedge your bets. 

Where can I purchase Ripple (XRP) and Litecoin (LTC)?

Ripple and Litecoin are both major cryptocurrencies. You should have no problem purchasing either cryptocurrency on any exchange.

Our recommendation is to use Coinbase Pro because it offers the lowest fees with plenty of liquidity. It’s also easy to deposit fiat currency onto Coinbase Pro.

If Coinbase Pro is not an option for you, then Binance or any other exchange with low fees should work fine and will certainly have Litecoin and Ripple. 

Final Thoughts

That’s it for our opinion on whether Ripple can surpass Litecoin. 

In summary, Ripple will most likely not surpass Ripple in terms of price per coin. Ripple simply has too many coins for it to have a price as high as Litecoin. 

However, Ripple has probably already surpassed when it comes to the amount of real world use. Litecoin is mostly used by people looking to make money via investment. 

Can Ripple (XRP) surpass Litecoin?