It's Official. XRP Edges out ETH from the Number 2 Spot. Is Bitcoin Next? 10

It’s Official. XRP Edges out ETH from the Number 2 Spot. Is Bitcoin Next?

Less than 2 hours ago, and through our partner publication of Crypto Crimson, we had anticipated the rise of XRP to the number 2 slot by edging out Ethereum (ETH) in the process. When the prediction was made, XRP was closing in on a $2.1 Billion lead Ethereum (ETH) had on the digital asset in terms of market capitalization. We did not anticipate for the event to happen so quickly and our estimates had stated that XRP needed to be valued at $0.58 to achieve this feat.

Looking at coinmarketcap.com, XRP has literally zoomed past Ethereum as can be seen in the screenshot below. The digital asset has a comfortable lead over Ethereum and by $1.224 Billion in market cap.

It's Official. XRP Edges out ETH from the Number 2 Spot. Is Bitcoin Next? 11
XRP edges out ETH from the number 2 spot. Source, coinmarketcap.com

Will XRP Maintain the Number 2 Spot?

From an optimistic point of view, and given that xRapid should go live in the next month or so, the rise of XRP to the number 2 spot can be classified as permanent for the foreseeable future. Ethereum (ETH) has been facing a lot of FUD in the past few weeks that were accelerated by the fake news of Goldman Sachs delaying the launch of a Bitcoin and crypto trading desk.

Perhaps when the scalability issues on the Ethereum network are fully solved using sharding, shall we see a resurrection of ETH in the markets.

Is Bitcoin Next?

To answer the question as to whether Bitcoin is going to be dethroned by XRP, one needs to remember that David Schwartz had put forth the theory that the XRP ledger is more decentralized than both the blockchain networks of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Mr. Schwartz explained to the crypto community this fact through a very detailed post on the ripple website. In it, he stated that:

Bitcoin and Ethereum are currently viewed as the gold standard for decentralization…

Since these blockchains are considered decentralized, then by design, the XRP Ledger is also — if not more so — decentralized than both Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The XRP Ledger uses a consensus protocol that relies on a majority of validators to record and verify transactions without incentivizing any one party (this is one of the main reasons why I began working on XRP Ledger more than six years ago). Validators are different from miners because they aren’t paid when they order and validate transactions.

How Much Should XRP be Worth, to Flippen Bitcoin?

Given the current marketcap of Bitcoin at $116.219 Billion, XRP needs to be valued at $2.91 to dethrone Bitcoin from the top.

What do you think of XRP edging out Ethereum from the number 2 spot? Will it sustain itself second to Bitcoin? And will BTC be finally dethroned by XRP? Please tell us what you think in the comment section below. 

Disclaimer: This article is not meant to give financial advice. Any opinion herein is purely the author’s and does not represent the opinion of Ethereum World News or any of its other writers. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the numerous cryptocurrencies available. Thank you.