Forget XRP: These 3 Cryptos Could Beat It This Spring

XRP has gained 18% over the past 30 days, but over the same timeframe these three crypto projects have at least doubled those gains.

Three months into 2022 and XRP is doing okay -- it's not doing great -- but it's doing okay, increasing its price to $0.836, marking an 18% increase over the past 30 days according to CoinMarketCap at press time. XRP is the cryptocurrency created by Ripple Labs to facilitate cross border money transfers for banking institutions for less than a penny per transaction, requiring less than five seconds to settle those transfers.

According to the Ripple website, it currently has hundreds of banking institutions as customers across 55 countries including Bank of America, Santander, American Express, and many more. But XRP's lawsuit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission continues to drag on and be a drag on that crypto's price.

While XRP languishes in legal limbo, here are three cryptos to consider that have at least doubled up on XRP's gains over the past month.

1. Algorand (ALGO)

Algorand is up 36% during the past four weeks as seen on CoinMarketCap at the time of writing, priced at $0.952 -- doubling XRP's 18% gains over the same period of time. Algorand is an automated, decentralized blockchain that accommodates an array of decentralized applications (DApps) and is compatible with the Ethereum network for even greater utility.

The Algorand network was created to improve the speed of transaction settlement and the number of transactions per second, while reducing the cost of transfers on other blockchains such as Ethereum and Bitcoin. It also operates on a pure proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus model, which is eco-friendly, and it's rolling out a major upgrade to make its blockchain even faster.

2. Polkadot (DOT)

Polkadot is currently priced at $22.83, up 40% over the past four weeks at press time, which is more than double XRP's showing over that timeframe according to CoinMarketCap. Polkadot is an open-source, multichain protocol that connects and secures a network of specialized blockchains, enabling cross-chain transfer of any data or asset types, not just tokens, allowing blockchains to seamlessly integrate with each other.

DOT successfully rolled out its smart contract solution -- Moonbeam -- in January with more than 80 applications going live at launch, with more to come.

3. Near Protocol (NEAR)

Beating them all is the Near Protocol (NEAR), which is up a whooping 83% over the past 30 days so shows the charts at CoinMarketCap -- easily more than triple XRP's returns for the same timeframe. NEAR is currently trading at $17.43 per coin at time of writing.

NEAR Protocol is a foundational layer-one blockchain, created as a cloud computing system that removes some of the limits of other blockchains regarding transaction speed, cost, and scale. Its decentralized design has attracted many developers and DApps, creating a user-friendly environment that continues to grow. The project also recently secured $150 million in new funding to help drive its mass adoption.

These are only intended as opinions and not financial advice. Each investor should always do their own research and only invest what they can comfortably afford to lose. While XRP will likely rocket once its lawsuit with the SEC is settled, there are other crypto options that offer attractive returns in the short term.