2017 was a spectacular year for Bitcoin. At the end of the year, BTC’s value increased by a massive 1400 percent from its value at the start of the year. However, what made Bitcoin so popular was its overwhelming value. It almost reached the $20,000 mark in December 2017.
Other cryptocurrencies also saw amazing growth in 2017 but didn’t become as popular because their values were still relatively much lower than that of Bitcoin. For example, Ripple is currently valued at $2.3, Litecoin is going for $243 whereas Bitcoin’s value is at $13,779 (as of this writing, prices are volatile and can change very fast).
Although Ripple and Litecoin may not be as popular as Bitcoin, they grew much more percentage wise when compared to Bitcoin. While Bitcoin showed an impressive growth of 1400 percent in 2017, Ripple started at $0.006311 which means a growth rate of over 36,000 percent!
Litecoin also had better growth than Bitcoin, starting from $4.3 growing by a huge margin of 5200 percent. Ripple’s growth was the most impressive, only last week it surged to an all time high and even overtook Ethereum as the second largest cryptocurrency in the world with a $100 billion market cap.
Many experts claim that Bitcoin won’t stay at the top for long as there are many Altcoins that are better than BTC. Many names are mentioned as the future of cryptocurrency, Ripple is one of them. What is it about Ripple that makes it different than Bitcoin and gives it an advantage over Bitcoin? There are a few key differences between Ripple and Bitcoin that will bring attention to the former.
Both Bitcoin and Ripple surged in December 2017 (the latter particularly in the last week of 2017). The reason for the sudden rise in interest for Bitcoin was due to Bitcoin’s inclusion in trading futures platforms that include the CME Group and CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange).
The reason for Ripple surging was because it was marketed as a cross-border payment solution for large firms. Then news also broke out that South Korean and Japanese banks were testing Ripple for cross border payments. Thus, both Ripple and Bitcoin’s prices surged due to some sort of trigger.
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One of the main advantages Ripple has over Bitcoin is the transaction time. A Bitcoin transaction can take 10 minutes or more however Ripple’s transaction time is just a few seconds. The transaction time for Ripple is the fastest among all current cryptocurrencies right now. However, both currencies have Blockchain technology. Most, if not all cryptocurrencies have Blockchain technology. Blockchain is to cryptocurrency what batteries are to phones.
The main reason Bitcoin has such a huge value is because it was the first ever cryptocurrency launched in 2008. Other cryptocurrencies were made following the success of Bitcoin. Ripple came out in 2012 whereas Ethereum came out in 2015. So, you can say Bitcoin got a head start compared to other cryptocurrencies.
As mentioned earlier, Ripple’s main reason was to become a solution for cross-border payments. Ripple also aimed to set up as an inter-bank payment option. Ripple is more popularly known for its digital payment protocol than its cryptocurrency (XRP).
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The biggest difference that will probably get investors attention is the affordability of Ripple. Bitcoin is currently very expensive for many investors compared to Ripple which is very affordable. You can buy 5,990 XRP for the price of one BTC. With Ripple’s price set to surge to greater heights in 2018, investing in Ripple when its currently at a lower price seems a wise option.
Although Bitcoin grew a lot in 2017, it was not the only cryptocurrency that had a great year. The value of a currency may be an indicator of how well it’s doing however a better indicator would be the growth rate which would make Ripple the most successful currency of 2017. Will Ripple overtake Bitcoin one day? Only time will tell what happens in the unpredictable crypto market.