Bitcoin has made some investors very rich. Those who bought back the digital currency for just a few dollars over the past few days. If it continues to rise to new highs, it could make even more investors rich.
But that's unlikely, as it's difficult to achieve high percentage gains at these price levels - above $10,000.
| coin | Price* | Market value | | Bitcoin (BTC) | $ 10,751.90 | $ 181,767,449,663 | | Ethereum (ETH) | $ 788.19 | 77266069902 | | Ripple (XRP) | $ 0.91 | 35513987185 |
*As of Wednesday, 11 a.m.
However, there is also Ripple, which is under $1. Some experts believe it could be the next Bitcoin, one day.
Craig Cole of CryptoMaps is one of the experts. “Ripple could be the catalyst for cryptocurrencies to become more mainstream," Cole said.
“Its faster transaction speeds and lower fees make it easier for the financial system to accept virtual currencies, which is part of the reason why Ripple's value has grown dramatically this year. Ripple is helping financial institutions save money and it is only expected to become more common in payment processes. The virtual currency is certainly on the rise and has the potential to be the first sign of real disruption to the industry, and if it does, expect XRP to reach Bitcoin-like levels of popularity in the near future. “
John-Paul McCaffrey, deputy director of the ITRC at Long Island University, agrees. “While there are currently no platforms that can exchange fiat currencies for Ripple (XRP), this may be the case sooner than you think,” McCaffrey said. “There is speculation that Coinbase will add it to their list of cryptocurrencies available for fiat exchange. Providing convenient liquidity only through Coinbase will attract new interest in XRP. “
Roman Guelfi-Gibbs, chief system architect at Pinnacle Brilliance Systems Inc., said it will take some time.
“It is certainly possible for Ripple to rise further in 2018, but I think 2019 is more likely. As the market observes more and more projects coded in other algorithms (like XRP), ETH may be delayed until the next big project coin/token. It will take some time for the market to digest this, so I expect that may happen in 2019. Of course, with encryption, anything can happen, so watch carefully. “
Not everyone is enthusiastic about the prospect of Ripple catching up with Bitcoin. Like Shidan Gouran, president of Global Chain Technology Group.
“Ripple is unlikely to rise a notch or two in the cryptocurrency space in 2018, and there are three reasons why. The first reason is to rank each of the three currencies at the top by market capitalization. Bitcoin is over $191 billion, Ethereum is over $84 billion, and Ripple is over $35 billion. Replacing Ethereum would require closing a deficit of approximately $49 billion (that’s more than double Iceland’s entire GDP). The second reason is that Ripple’s use case is primarily for asset transactions rather than everyday spending. As consumer awareness of cryptocurrencies will increase significantly in 2018 and beyond, the interest of the masses will be in cryptocurrencies that can be used as currency, not just for investment transactions. Finally, the third reason is that because Ripple cannot be purchased with fiat currency, existing cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum must be purchased in order to purchase XRP. This continues to provide demand for Bitcoin and Ethereum and will solidify their position as the two largest cryptocurrencies in the market. Ripple will continue to deliver value as it has demonstrated a unique set of capabilities to facilitate transactions where there is clear demand. But it cannot surpass the market cap of Bitcoin or Ethereum in 2018. “ Ripple will continue to deliver value as it has demonstrated a unique set of capabilities to facilitate transactions where there is clear demand. But it cannot surpass the market cap of Bitcoin or Ethereum in 2018. “ Ripple will continue to deliver value as it has demonstrated a unique set of capabilities to facilitate transactions where there is clear demand. But it cannot surpass the market cap of Bitcoin or Ethereum in 2018. “
Conclusion: Ripple investors will have to wait quite a while before it can replicate the success of early Bitcoin investors, assuming it can gain user support - and it's not like big governments, big banks or hackers are standing in the way of a full-scale investment in the cryptocurrency
Source: Fortune Magazine
https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2018/03/07/ripple-could-be-the-next-bitcoin/#615774f55b39
Original author: Panos Mourdoukoutas
|
English
