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Ten years ago, XRP held the title of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. On this day in 2014, XRP sat just behind Bitcoin, firmly establishing itself as a leading player in the cryptocurrency space.
Although a lot has changed in the crypto landscape since then, the achievement highlights XRP's early influence and the enduring strength of its community.
In a recent tweet, Satoshi Club, an X handle focused on happenings within the crypto market, shared a snippet of what the top 10 cryptocurrencies looked like exactly 10 years ago. The tweet included a screenshot of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization at the time.
Bitcoin (BTC) ranked first, with a market capitalization of $4.7 billion at the time. XRP took second place in terms of market capitalization. At that time, XRP's market cap stood at approximately $131 million.
Cryptocurrencies, namely Litecoin, Bitshares, Dogecoin, Nxt, Peercoin, Maidsafecoin, Counterparty and Namecoin, sat in the third to tenth spots, respectively. Ethereum did not yet exist at the time. The Ethereum blockchain sprung into public existence in July 2015.
Tomiwabold OlajideAt the time, the crypto market was a fraction of the size it is today, and the number of projects was limited. XRP’s innovative consensus mechanism set it apart from Bitcoin's proof-of-work system, and it gained a following for its potential to enable faster, cheaper transactions.
XRP intermittently ranked as the second largest cryptocurrency until 2018, when it reached an all-time high of $3.84, a peak recorded on Jan. 3, 2018.
What's changed?
Fast forward to the present, and while XRP is no longer the second largest cryptocurrency, it remains in the top 10 by market cap. Despite the legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), XRP remains among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
A few years before the Ripple lawsuit was filed in December 2020, XRP was consistently ranked as the third largest cryptocurrency by market valuation.
XRP briefly rose to become the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization following the landmark ruling in the Ripple-SEC lawsuit in July 2023.
Currently, XRP is the seventh largest cryptocurrency, with a market capitalization of approximately $29.85 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data. Bitcoin is currently valued at over $1.42 trillion and is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency, with a market value of $324 billion.
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