Ripple (XRP) Almost Overtakes Bitcoin (BTC) In Market Cap Coin Value

Despite the volatility of the crypto-coin market, Bitcoin has continued to be dominant. However, that dominance is waning as Ripple seeks to become the biggest crypto coin in the world.

Ripple has been inching closer to Bitcoin’s market cap after its value rose to over $3.80 on 4 January. This raised its value to over £100 billion. In just one week, the price of Ripple has increased its value by over 100% from just $1.50 at the start of the week. In this same period, the price of Bitcoin has remained stable at just $15000, losing about 25% from its peak towards the end of 2017.

Why Ripple Almost Overtook Bitcoin

One reason why Ripple may be getting so expensive is that it makes it easier to conduct transactions compared to Bitcoin. Various companies and banks have tested it, which has increased investor confidence in this crypto coin. The total of Ripple has been growing quite fast. This is especially so because there are billions of Ripple in Circulation compared to Bitcoin, which only has 16.7 million in circulation.

For a long time now, Bitcoin has been the dominant force in the crypto-coin world. However, in recent months, the rise of altcoins has come to challenge its dominance. These crypto coins are alternatives, which work in a similar manner to Bitcoin, but come at a lower price. The result is that investors turn to them in the hope of making substantial gains.

The total share of Bitcoin in the crypto-coin world has fallen to as low as 33 percent with a market cap of about $250 billion. On the other hand, Ripple’s market cap has grown to about 18 percent. This is astounding when you consider that at the start of 2017, Bitcoin accounts for 90 percent of all market cap in the crypto-coin world. Some of the reasons why people are turning from Bitcoin are the slow transaction speeds, volatility in price, and high transaction fees.

Ripple XRP began to see a rise in value after some major banks in Japan announced they were thinking of using its payment technology. The major difference between Ripple and Bitcoin is its centralized nature. This is something that is frowned upon by most crypto coin purists. The purists believe that the aim of cryptocurrencies is to take money away from the banks into the hands of people. This increase in Ripple has made its founders, who own huge amounts of the currency, worth billions.

Ripple has collaborated with various banks such as Bank of America and Santander in the UK. It has even had partnerships with tech giant Softbank Group. Besides that, Ripple requires no mining, which causes Bitcoin to use huge amounts of resources.

However, Ripple is not the only coin whose value is rising. Ethereum, which enables the use of smart contracts, has also seen its value rise astronomically. Today, one coin of Ethereum is worth about $950. Another factor that has affected Bitcoin is the various hard forks.