While XRP has staged a strong recovery over the past week, its performance relative to Bitcoin (BTC) has recently come under scrutiny.
The coin surged from below $1 to as high as $1.70 before retracing to around $1.43. Despite this impressive rally, a long-term comparison with Bitcoin highlights just how much XRP has lagged the largest cryptocurrency over a multi-year period.
Bitcoin commentator Adam Livingston highlighted this stark contrast in a post on X. He noted that XRP is currently trading around $1.43, compared with its price of $3.02 on January 6, 2018.
This means that XRP remains significantly below its valuation from more than eight years ago, despite the immense overall growth witnessed by the broader cryptocurrency market.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin has delivered a dramatically different performance over the same timeframe. Livingston noted that BTC has climbed from around $17,000 on January 6, 2018, to approximately $78,401, representing a massive 361% increase.
“Everything goes to zero against Bitcoin,” Livingston wrote, pointing out that the XRP/BTC pair is down a staggering 88.2%.
XRP Surges Over 70% Before Facing Correction
This long-term comparison comes as XRP experiences a highly dramatic price move over the past week.
XRP traded at $0.978 last week before climbing to approximately $1.70, representing a gain of more than 72%. Following this peak, the token pulled back to around $1.43 but still remains up roughly 43% over the past seven days.
Bitcoin has also rallied significantly during the same period, moving from roughly $62,000 to as high as $81,000. BTC remains up around 22% over the past week.
These divergent performances have renewed debate within the cryptocurrency community regarding short-term momentum versus long-term value.
The Opportunity Cost Debate
X user Alexander Mason Alden argued that the comparison illustrates the concept of opportunity cost in crypto markets. Alden noted that XRP does not need to fall to zero to be considered underperforming; it only needs Bitcoin to compound faster for a sufficiently long period.
In contrast, Bitcoin commentator @Micro2Macr0 took a much harsher view, criticizing XRP, its connection to Ripple’s business model, and labeling it a scam.
XRP Viewed as a Key Trading Opportunity by Some
However, sentiment is not uniformly bearish. Davinci Jeremie, a longtime Bitcoin commentator and known XRP critic, has previously made bullish price predictions for XRP.
In January 2025, when XRP was trading around $3.13, Jeremie predicted that the token could reach between $20 and $24 during the market cycle.
However, Jeremie draws a clear distinction between XRP as a trading opportunity and XRP as a long-term investment. He remains critical of the token’s close ties to the banking and financial system, arguing that these characteristics make it less attractive as a long-term holding.
These contrasting perspectives underscore the deep divide surrounding XRP. While the token has delivered a powerful short-term rally, its longer-term performance against Bitcoin remains significantly weaker.
While the latest surge demonstrates that XRP can still deliver strong short-term gains, those gains may appear relatively modest when compared with the performance of Bitcoin.
