Better Cryptocurrency to Buy Now With $2,000: XRP (Ripple) vs. Stellar

XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) and Stellar (CRYPTO: XLM) both promise fast, low-cost cross-border payments, but they chase different customers and profit pools, and their blockchains are used at very different rates.

So with $2,000 to put to work in your portfolio, which of the pair offers the stronger long-term case? Let's walk through how each chain aims to generate value and figure it out.

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Ripple is building an institutional finance stack with XRP

XRP's pitch is that it's a blockchain-based tool for regulated financial institutions that need to transfer value across international borders, manage their tokenized assets, and conduct their trades within the crypto-financial system while using collateral that they're familiar with and have in ample quantities.

Ripple, XRP's issuer, has spent years turning the XRP Ledger (XRPL) itself into a full stack for institutions, which it markets to them alongside a suite of other financial services they might find handy. Ripple Payments lets banks and fintechs send cross-border payments via RippleNet, using XRP as a bridge currency to save on working capital. Major banking players already use Ripple's infrastructure to speed up their international transfers.

Ripple is also pushing deeper into the banking value chain. It has applied for a U.S. national bank charter and a Federal Reserve master account so it can hold reserves directly at the Fed. In early 2025 it agreed to acquire the prime broker Hidden Road for $1.2 billion, giving it control of a business that clears about $3 trillion a year for hundreds of institutional clients and already works with Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin as collateral.

Furthermore, XRP's market cap is near $125 billion, making it the fourth-largest cryptocurrency. In the context of the financial services it's offering, that market cap value represents stored capital that can be repackaged and offered to users in a variety of different ways, so it's quite important.

The main risk is that XRP depends heavily on Ripple's consistent execution of a well-crafted business plan for the network. But for investors who want a fintech coin aimed at the high-margin bank and asset-manager business, XRP currently has the widest and most lucrative target market.

Stellar is catering to a less wealthy target audience

Stellar's goals are much narrower than XRP's, though it's also a smart contract-capable blockchain with many potential use cases.

The network is presently optimized for connecting domestic banking systems and cash-disbursing agents so people can send and receive money across borders cheaply. That makes Stellar a natural fit for processing remittances, where low costs and wide reach are more important than integrations with complex financial products.

Interestingly, humanitarian aid is where the chain's design has tended to shine the most clearly, though it's important to note that it could technically excel in other areas, too. Stellar Aid Assist is an open-source bulk disbursement platform that lets non-governmental organizations (NGOs) upload their aid recipient lists and then send digital cash to their crypto wallets in seconds. In Ukraine, the United Nations (UN) has used Stellar-based tools to distribute cash assistance to people displaced by the war. But there may not be as much need for this use case in the future in comparison to the recent past if (fingers crossed) the world manages to exit some of its lethal conflicts.

Stellar's financial footprint is much smaller than XRP's, with a market cap of about $7.9 billion.

For investors, that smaller footprint cuts both ways. There could be more upside if Stellar becomes the default system for remittances and NGO cash programs in emerging markets. On the other hand, those segments are structurally thin-margin -- people are only willing to pay so much to send or receive a remittance payment, and there isn't really much evidence that the coin is actually enduringly popular among NGOs for any purpose anyway.

Which coin deserves your $2,000?

Overall, XRP is the stronger choice here. Despite its size, XRP's growth into its target market is likely still in the early innings, and Ripple is taking steps to make sure the chain keeps growing and creating more use cases for the coin.

Stellar, in contrast, is one of the few crypto projects with a very clear and humane mission. That's a good thing to be known for. But it's no guarantee of it being a good investment. And there's not much reason to suspect it to grow significantly, as its market probably isn't expanding.

So if you're choosing a single fintech-focused cryptocurrency for a long-term $2,000 allocation today, the scale and institutional focus of XRP make it the better candidate by far.

Alex Carchidi has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.