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Ten years ago, XRP held the title of the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. On this day in 2014, XRP placed just behind Bitcoin, solidifying its position as a major player in the cryptocurrency space.
Although much has changed in the cryptocurrency landscape since then, this achievement highlights the early influence of XRP and the enduring strength of its community.
In a recent tweet, Satoshi Crabbe, whose handle X focuses on happenings within the crypto market, shared a snippet of what the top 10 cryptocurrencies were like exactly 10 years ago. The tweet included a screenshot of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization at the time.
In first place was Bitcoin (BTC), with a market capitalization of $4.7 billion at the time. XRP ranked second in terms of market capitalization. At the time, XRP’s market capitalization was approximately $131 million.
Cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin, Bitshare, Dogecoin, Nxt, Peercoin, Madesafecoin, Counterparty, and Namecoin ranked from 3rd to 10th, respectively. Ethereum didn’t exist at that time. The Ethereum blockchain was made publicly available in July 2015.
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At that time, the cryptocurrency market was a fraction of its current size and the number of projects was limited. XRP’s innovative consensus mechanism sets it apart from Bitcoin’s proof-of-work system and gained traction for its potential to enable faster, cheaper transactions.
XRP intermittently ranked as the second-largest cryptocurrency until 2018, reaching a high of $3.84 recorded on January 3, 2018.
What has changed?
Fast forward to today, and although XRP is no longer the second largest cryptocurrency, it is still within the top 10 by market capitalization. Despite a legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), XRP remains among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
Years before the Ripple lawsuit was filed in December 2020, XRP consistently ranked as the third-largest cryptocurrency by market valuation.
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Following the landmark ruling in the Ripple-SEC case in July 2023, XRP briefly emerged as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
XRP is currently the seventh largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of approximately $29.85 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin is currently worth over $1.42 trillion and is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency, with a market value of $324 billion.
