Is XRP or Ethereum More Likely to Be a Millionaire Maker?

XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) are two of the biggest cryptocurrencies, and they’ve delivered similar returns over the last five years. During that time period, XRP is up 845%, and Ethereum is up 849% (as of Oct. 24).

These cryptocurrencies have increased in value enough to make early investors millionaires, but what about if you’re investing today? At first glance, XRP looks like the obvious choice, as its market cap is less than a third of Ethereum’s. However, to figure out which is the better millionaire-maker, we need to look at their respective growth prospects.

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XRP’s future hinges on cross-border payments

Ripple, a blockchain-based payments company, launched XRP in 2012 as a fast, affordable way to move money internationally. The company’s payments network has over 300 banking partners, and XRP supports its on-demand liquidity feature. Instead of having accounts pre-funded with foreign currencies, financial institutions can convert transfers to XRP, and recipients can convert the transfer from XRP to their own currency.

In a best-case scenario, Ripple and XRP emerge as a credible alternative to SWIFT, the current method of choice for international money transfers. SWIFT handles about $150 trillion in annual payment, and Ripple executives have predicted that XRP could capture 14% of that volume. Crypto analyst Paul Barron has an even more optimistic forecast, as he estimates XRP could acquire 20% of SWIFT’s volume.

Assuming 14% to 20% is accurate, Ripple would be processing $21 trillion to $30 trillion in payments per year. Those kind of numbers could send XRP skyrocketing.

However, the forecasts are a long way from reality. In January 2025, Ripple said in a blog post that Ripple Payments had served $70 billion in payments volume. Considering Ripple had been around over 12 years at that point, its payments volume isn’t anything to get excited about.

Even if adoption increases for Ripple, that doesn’t necessarily mean the same will happen for XRP. Most of the banks that partner with Ripple don’t use XRP, as they don’t need on-demand liquidity. XRP’s growth doesn’t just depend on Ripple taking over a larger share of the payments market — more financial institutions will also need to adopt XRP.

Ethereum is the launching point for all things DeFi

Ethereum popularized the idea of a blockchain as a software development platform. It runs smart contracts, which are programs built into a blockchain that developers can use to create decentralized apps (dApps).

Ethereum has a wide range…