After rapidly rising following President Donald Trump's election win in November 2024, and with a strong start to the year despite many regulatory tailwinds, most cryptocurrencies have found themselves in a bit of a rut.
The price of XRP (XRP +7.19%), the fourth-largest cryptocurrency in the world, is only up about 6.5% this year (as of Nov. 18), trailing the broader stock market. Meanwhile, the price of Shiba Inu (SHIB +4.05%), the 24th largest cryptocurrency, has crashed 58% this year. Still, many believe crypto will bounce back like always and has a bright future ahead. Is XRP or Shiba Inu more likely to make you a millionaire?
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XRP must become a force to be reckoned with in payments
At this point, investors have picked through most of the low-hanging fruit when it comes to XRP. The Trump administration implemented new leadership at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which quickly resolved a long-standing lawsuit against Ripple, the company behind XRP, and its co-founders. Trump has worked to remove regulatory roadblocks, instituted a U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile, and spot-XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have now been approved and launched.
XRP's next mission is to effectively leverage its use case, which is to attract more banks and institutions to utilize Ripple and, consequently, XRP for international payments. Ripple is building a network to bridge the gap between mainstream finance and crypto. XRP's network is well-suited for payments, as it can process up to 1,500 transactions per second.
CRYPTO: XRP
Key Data Points
The company leverages XRP and its stablecoin, RLUSD, in its Ripple Payments network to assist clients with a range of payment activities, including sending instant payments, serving as a custodian for digital assets, and transacting with stablecoins. Ripple also owns a large multi-asset prime brokerage, which could be useful for institutional investors trading a range of financial instruments, including crypto.
The question is, can Ripple Payments achieve critical mass in international payments across the global financial world? Well, many of the world's top investment groups think so, considering Ripple just raised $500 million from a strong group of investors, including Fortress Investment Group, affiliates of Citadel Securities, and Galaxy Digital. The latest funding round values Ripple at $40 billion. As Ripple grows, there's a good chance that demand for XRP follows.
Shiba Inu: From meme token to real-world utility?
Shiba Inu initially launched as a joke, taking its name from the Shiba Inu dog, a breed associated with Dogecoin's mascot. However, the token gained traction at the right time and has remained relevant ever since. Shiba Inu has, for the most part, lacked real-world utility and not served any real purpose, other than a viral sensation.
However, in 2023, developers built a layer-2 blockchain solution for Shiba Inu called Shibarium. Shiba Inu was launched as an ERC-20 token, meaning it was deployed on Ethereum's network and governed by a set of protocols that all ERC-20 tokens must adhere to. However, Shibarium provided Shiba Inu with an additional layer to process transactions off Ethereum's main network, enabling faster Shiba Inu transactions and lower fees.
CRYPTO: SHIB
Key Data Points
Shibarium also provided smart contract functionality, allowing developers to build decentralized applications (dApps) and games for Shiba Inu's vibrant ecosystem. Earlier this year, media outlets reported that Shiba Inu had 1,200 dApps built on Shibarium. Shibarium also features a burning mechanism, where tokens are eliminated from circulation through specific transactions. This may help reduce the massive supply of Shiba Inu over time, creating a more balanced supply-and-demand dynamic.
Which is more likely to make a millionaire?
Investors should be aware that both of these tokens remain highly volatile. While they certainly have long-term potential, there is still much we don't know about the sector as a whole, which is why investors should keep positions in both of these tokens smaller and more speculative.
That said, if I had to pick one to make a millionaire, I'd go with XRP. Not only is the network better from a technical perspective, but it also has the Ripple ecosystem behind it, which, as I mentioned above, is now valued at $40 billion and provides real payment solutions for mainstream banks and institutional investors. It remains to be seen whether Ripple and XRP can significantly scale from here, but if they do, I suspect XRP will perform quite well in the process.
