According to U.Today, ten years ago, XRP was the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. On this day in 2014, XRP was positioned just behind Bitcoin, marking its significant influence in the early days of the cryptocurrency market. Despite the evolving crypto landscape, this milestone underscores XRP's early impact and the resilience of its community.
In a recent tweet, Satoshi Club, a crypto market-focused X handle, shared a snapshot of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization from a decade ago. Bitcoin held the top spot with a market cap of $4.7 billion, while XRP was second with approximately $131 million. Other cryptocurrencies in the top 10 included Litecoin, Bitshares, Dogecoin, Nxt, Peercoin, Maidsafecoin, Counterparty, and Namecoin. Notably, Ethereum had not yet been launched, as it debuted in July 2015.
At that time, the cryptocurrency market was much smaller, with fewer projects. XRP's unique consensus mechanism distinguished it from Bitcoin's proof-of-work system, attracting attention for its potential to facilitate faster and cheaper transactions. XRP maintained its position as the second-largest cryptocurrency intermittently until 2018, when it reached an all-time high of $3.84 on January 3, 2018.
Fast forward to the present, XRP is no longer the second-largest cryptocurrency but remains within the top 10 by market capitalization. Despite ongoing legal challenges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), XRP continues to hold a significant position in the market. Before the Ripple lawsuit in December 2020, XRP was consistently ranked as the third-largest cryptocurrency by market valuation. Following a landmark ruling in the Ripple-SEC lawsuit in July 2023, XRP briefly rose to become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Currently, XRP is the seventh-largest cryptocurrency, with a market cap of approximately $29.85 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data. Bitcoin remains the largest cryptocurrency with a market value exceeding $1.42 trillion, followed by Ethereum with a market cap of $324 billion.
