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The CEO of Into The Cryptoverse indicated that gold has been a better investment than $XRP since 2018, but a broader assessment paints a different picture.
Notably, the evaluation came up as Peter Schiff, a well-known gold advocate and chief economist at Europac, reignited the discussion around gold and Bitcoin, as he and Bitcoin proponents continue to debate which is a better asset.
Bitcoin vs Gold Comparison
In his latest commentary, Schiff argued that anyone comparing the two does not understand gold. This statement led to a response from Into The Cryptoverse CEO, Benjamin Cowen, who highlighted Bitcoin’s growth compared to gold since Bitcoin’s launch 16 years ago.
100% agree!!!
Bitcoin has gone from $0 to $100k over the last 16 years while gold went from $2k to $3k
We are finding common ground after all this time 🤝
— Benjamin Cowen (@intocryptoverse) February 18, 2025
Cowen stressed that while Bitcoin surged from zero to $100,000 between 2009 and 2015, gold only moved from $2,000 to $3,000. His comments aimed to highlight Bitcoin’s superior returns, but they also sparked reactions from other crypto proponents, including an anonymous $XRP enthusiast.
Interestingly, the $XRP proponent countered Cowen’s claims by arguing that Bitcoin’s high volatility and repeated crashes prevent it from being a reliable store of value.
They also pointed out that gold, the U.S. dollar, and the euro hold Tier 1 asset classification by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), whereas Bitcoin does not. Further, the $XRP enthusiast claimed that in the coming years, $XRP and gold would gain more recognition.
Gold Has Outperformed $XRP Since 2018
In response, Cowen highlighted that $XRP had lost 45% of its value against gold over the past seven years. This statement suggested that gold outperformed $XRP within this timeframe, with Cowen humorously noting that even gold has been a better investment than $XRP since 2018.
$XRP is down 45% against GOLD over the last 7 years.
So even Gold was a better investment than $XRP since 2018 😂 pic.twitter.com/06r6DkmINg
— Benjamin Cowen (@intocryptoverse) February 18, 2025
However, in a more interesting twist, the reality is even more discouraging for $XRP. Cowen’s assessment took into account $XRP’s market capitalization relative to gold, which is not the most accurate way to measure price performance, as its increasing circulating supply also contributes to higher market caps.
When evaluating $XRP’s actual price performance against gold, the XRPXAU trading pair tells a more bearish story. In early 2018, $XRP’s peak value against gold stood at 0.00250. Today, it trades at around 0.00086, showing a more substantial 65% decline in value over the past seven years.
$XRP Up 19,313% Against Gold Since Launch
However, Cowen’s evaluation does not fairly assess $XRP’s performance, as it considered a time when $XRP reached its peak. Looking at a broader scope, since its launch in August 2013, $XRP has significantly outperformed gold.
At the time when $XRP started trading in the open market, the XRPXAU pair stood at 0.000004430. By today’s value of 0.00086, $XRP has surged by over 19,313%, proving that it has been a superior store of value over the long term.
Bitcoin, however, has seen even greater growth. The BTCXAU trading pair has skyrocketed by 43,743% within the same period. This indicates that while $XRP outperformed gold over the past decade, Bitcoin outshined both assets by a much larger margin.
Meanwhile, some $XRP enthusiasts attribute $XRP’s underperformance since 2018 to regulatory challenges. The SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple, which began in December 2020, led to widespread delistings from major exchanges in the U.S. and Canada.
As a result, $XRP missed out on the 2021 crypto bull run. Now, with regulatory clarity improving, $XRP has begun recovering from years of price suppression. Despite nearly reclaiming its previous highs, it still has a long way to go to make up for the lost years.