Better Buy: Bitcoin vs. XRP

The crypto market is in the dumps, and Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) have both been dragged down with it. Bitcoin is off 44% from its all-time high. XRP has fallen even harder, down 61% from its 2025 peak.

Pain like that can create opportunity, but which beaten-down crypto offers the better risk/reward from here? Two Fool contributors take opposite sides of the debate.

This is the XRP discount I've been waiting for

Anders Bylund (XRP): XRP's valuation was quite unreasonable in 2025. The coin that makes the Ripple international payment system work soared for speculative reasons, resulting in a lofty valuation. At the peak in July 2025, it held a total market value of $209 billion. XRP was the third largest name in the crypto business, trailing behind only Bitcoin and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).

The coin had several active catalysts at the time. The long-running lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission concluded. There are exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on real-time XRP prices nowadays, led by the Canary XRP ETF (NASDAQ: XRPC) and Bitwise XRP ETF (NYSEMKT: XRP), each with roughly $280 million of assets under management. The Ripple ledger and XRP coin are gaining new features including support for smart contracts and tokenization of real-world assets.

These helpful changes are still ongoing, but XRP's price is way down from last year's peaks. I get why investors are skeptical, of course.

• Ripple payments are still rarely seen in the wild.
• The new ETFs started life with modest asset inflows.
• The crypto market as a whole is struggling in this unpredictable economy.
• There are also more Ripple alternatives available as the SWIFT international transfer system is modernizing and stablecoins are finding a foothold in the same market.

As of March 23, XRP has dropped to fourth place on the list of leading crypto market caps, with a total value of $88.5 billion. It's down 41% over the past year and 61% from yearly highs.

Ripple's business model was never going to produce overnight fireworks. Enterprise adoption moves slowly. Banks and payment providers don't flip switches on a whim, even if they're digital. The infrastructure is being built, the regulatory path is clearer than it's ever been, and the technology is gaining new capabilities. I'd rather buy into that story at a 60% discount than chase it at all-time highs.

Bitcoin may be the safer play. XRP is the better one. The harder trade usually is.

Image source: Getty Images.

Bitcoin's price is down, but its fundamentals continue to improve

Daniel Foelber (Bitcoin): Bitcoin is down 44% from its all-time high, set roughly six months ago.

But Bitcoin isn't a stock -- it doesn't represent partial ownership in a company. So there are no earnings results or management commentary to blame when the price falls.

Rather, the value of Bitcoin is inherently abstract. Unlike a fiat currency, Bitcoin is decentralized. Its fixed supply makes it resistant to inflation. It's also secure because of the blockchain, which provides a publicly available ledger of all transactions. It is globally transferable through self-custody wallets, or, more commonly, through third-party custodians such a Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN).

The ease of transferability has helped Bitcoin become mainstream among retail and institutional investors worldwide, with exchange-traded funds holding significant assets. The iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ: IBIT) holds more than $50 billion in net assets.

That adoption has helped drive global demand, which can be powerful given Bitcoin's fixed supply of 21 million coins, roughly 95% of which has already been mined. But Bitcoin is still a long way from realizing its utility as a decentralized currency.

Attempts have been made toward that end, such as El Salvador's use of Bitcoin as legal tender. But widespread adoption in its day-to-day economy has failed to sustain traction. So, like most central banks, El Salvador holds Bitcoin primarily as a strategic reserve asset.

Since Bitcoin's price is based on perception rather than earnings, its price can swing wildly if major buyers, such as central banks, change their Bitcoin reserve policies. During liquidity events, as we saw in February, the price swings can lead to margin calls and forced selling by leveraged holders.

As recent research from the Motley Fool shows, the U.S. and China each hold over 190,000 Bitcoins, giving each country just shy of 1% of the total supply. Increased adoption by governments, financial institutions, and individual investors alone could drive the price higher in the long term. That's especially true if more investors allocate even a small portion of their portfolios to Bitcoin to protect against a weakening U.S. dollar.

But the sky is the limit if Bitcoin becomes a decentralized currency used in everyday commerce.

Anders Bylund has positions in Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and iShares Bitcoin Trust. Daniel Foelber has positions in Ethereum. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and iShares Bitcoin Trust. The Motley Fool recommends Coinbase Global. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.