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The XRP price is currently struggling to retain $0.52, with commentators dubbing the token undervalued, but what could this price be if XRP captured the $299 billion market cap of Ethereum?
XRP retained the spot as the second-largest crypto asset at some point, only below Bitcoin (BTC), the firstborn cryptocurrency, in market capitalization. The crypto asset overtook Litecoin (LTC) in market cap in 2015 and held the second spot until 2016, when Ethereum (ETH) stole the show.
XRP Battled Ethereum for Second Spot
XRP battled Ethereum for the second spot from 2016 to 2018, eventually reclaiming it in December 2017 when its market cap soared to $95.8 billion while Ethereum remained at the $70 billion mark. ETH retook the spot after a brief period, but the supremacy battle lingered until late 2019.
Ethereum has continued to hold the second spot since then, with the SEC lawsuit, which came up in December 2020, exerting more bearish pressure on XRP. While Ethereum’s market cap soared to a high of $575 billion in November 2021 during the bull run, XRP only had a valuation of $60 billion.
Over the years, XRP has also relinquished the third and fourth spots to Binance Coin (BNB) and Tether (USDT). Most recently, it gave up the fifth spot to a rallying Solana (SOL), whose market cap has now skyrocketed past $47 billion amid the reclamation of a $100 price.
XRP now sits sixth among the largest crypto assets by market cap, with a valuation of $28.5 billion at the time of reporting. Meanwhile, USDC, Circle’s stablecoin, boasts a market cap of $27.9 billion despite its woes last year.
XRP Price at $299B Market Cap
Several XRP proponents have bemoaned the asset’s underperformance over the years, as it goes from a competitive stance against Ethereum to relegating itself to the sixth position among the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
While some market analysts predict an imminent comeback from XRP, these projections remain speculative at this time. However, if XRP had followed a similar growth trajectory to Ethereum’s, what would its price be right now, considering its current circulating supply?
Ethereum currently has a market cap of $299 billion at the time of reporting. Meanwhile, XRP’s circulating supply comes in at 54.5 billion coins, per CoinMarketCap (CMC) data. If XRP had imitated Ethereum’s growth to reach the $299 billion valuation, its price right now would be $5.53.
Notably, this price would represent a new all-time high for XRP, which currently trades for $0.5227. XRP would need to skyrocket by a massive 957% from its current value to clinch the $5.53 price.
If XRP achieves a market capitalization of $1 trillion like Bitcoin, XRP price would be approximately $18.