With XRP (XRP +1.57%) and Solana (SOL +1.37%) both badly bruised, losing more than half their value over the last six months, the pricing of both coins looks fairly forgiving for an investment right now.

But which of these two coins has what it takes to take an investment of $2,000 and keep it growing for the next 10 years? 

What these networks are trying to do

Ripple, the company behind XRP, has spent the last two years assembling something resembling a financial services business using the XRP Ledger (XRPL) as a crypto backbone for the entire effort.

Its acquisition of prime broker Hidden Road for $1.2 billion last year made it the first crypto company to own a brokerage clearing roughly $3 trillion in turnover annually, with all of that brokerage’s post-trade settlement now migrating onto the XRP Ledger. At the same time, spot XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have pulled in roughly $1.1 billion in net capital inflows since late 2025.

Ripple is also in the process of upgrading the XRPL to handle tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) with more functionality, so that it’ll be appealing to financial institutions looking for asset management solutions.

Today’s Change

(1.57%) $0.02

Current Price

$1.41

Key Data Points

Market Cap

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$86B

Day’s Range

$1.39 – $1.43

52wk Range

$1.14 – $3.65

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Volume

1.6B

Solana’s pitch is a bit different, and targeted at a much wider audience.

Rather than focusing on becoming part of the traditional (and centralized) financial value chain like XRP is, Solana’s chain hosts a large ecosystem of decentralized finance (DeFi) projects that’s worth a total of $6.6 billion in total value locked (TVL), a measure of capital stored in DeFi services. It’s also working to build up its tokenized asset management capabilities, and it has vastly more tokenized capital on its chain than the XRPL does. Furthermore, spot Solana ETFs attracted about $1.5 billion in inflows since their launch last year. And, unlike the XRPL, smart contracts are natively supported on Solana’s chain.

Today’s Change

(1.37%) $1.19

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Current Price

$88.18

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$50B

Day’s Range

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$86.92 – $88.77

52wk Range

$70.61 – $252.78

Volume

2B

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Both could be good choices

Now, let’s narrow down which one is the better investment over the coming 10 years.

In short, XRP’s central vulnerability is that the financial institutions it’s looking to for growth have many other options for essentially every task the XRPL can do. Failing to get their capital onto the chain will mean that its bull thesis will be disproven.

Solana’s risks stem from its ecosystem, which can be dysfunctional. For instance, a meme coin launchpad hosted on Solana is facing a class action lawsuit, which also names multiple Solana-affiliated organizations. The chain also faces plenty of competition, though it’s near the top of its pack at the moment.

Even given the lawsuit — which is just allegations at this point — the fact that Solana is already substantially succeeding in the domains of its choice makes it a more favorable pick than XRP to buy with $2,000 and hold for 10 years. But, if you want to round out your crypto portfolio with a purchase of XRP, it’s still a good pick.

Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called bitcoin BTC$71,449.77 a “giant Ponzi scheme,” prompting a swift rebuttal from Strategy chairman Michael Saylor and other netizens.

In a column published in the Daily Mail and posted on social media platform X, Johnson wrote that he had long suspected cryptocurrencies relied on “a supply of new and credulous investors” rather than real value. He pointed to a story from his village in Oxfordshire about a retired man who handed £500 ($661) to someone in a pub who promised to double the money through bitcoin.

According to Johnson’s account, the man spent three and a half years paying fees and trying to withdraw funds. He ultimately lost about £20,000 ($ 26,450), referring to what he admitted was “some kind of scam.”

Johnson argued that assets such as gold or even collectibles like Pokémon cards hold some cultural or physical appeal. Bitcoin, he wrote, is “just a string of numbers stored in a series of computers.”

He also questioned why people should trust a system created by a pseudonymous entity, Satoshi Nakamoto, without institutional backing.

“Who do we talk to if they decrypt the crypto?” Johnson asked. “There’s no one except this Nakamoto, who may be no more real than Pikachu or Charmander themselves.”

Community push back

Reacting to the column, the cryptocurrency community pushed back against Johnson’s claims.

Saylor, Executive Chairman of the world’s largest corporate bitcoin holder Strategy (MSTR), refuted the claims, saying a Ponzi scheme requires a “central operator promising returns and paying early investors with funds from later ones.”

Bitcoin, Saylor added, has “no issuer, no promoter, and no guaranteed return—just an open, decentralized monetary network driven by code and market demand.”

On X, in the “community notes program,” a note was added pointing out that Ponzi schemes promise artificially high rates of returns with next to no risk.

“Bitcoin has no issuer and its value is purely determined by the free market. The code is totally public and opt-in. Nobody can force you to run any particular version,” the note reads.

Other responses ranged from technical explanations of Bitcoin’s design to broader criticism of government monetary policy.

Other responses ranged from technical explanations of Bitcoin’s design to broader criticism of government monetary policy. Some users pointed to Bitcoin’s fixed supply and decentralized network as evidence that it differs from classic Ponzi structures

Others took a more combative tone, posting memes and criticizing central banks for expanding the money supply during the pandemic. As for who’s in charge, BitMEX Research replied, “nobody is in charge.”

After spending much of 2025 as one of the hottest cryptocurrencies, XRP (XRP 0.74%) has gone through a rough correction. It’s down 54% over the last six months (as of March 10), and a sell-off has quickly followed every recent uptick.

Sometimes, these drawdowns are an opportunity to buy the dip, but they can also be a falling knife. Let’s see whether there’s a good case to buy XRP at the current price.

This drawdown isn’t just an XRP issue

Both the crypto and stock markets are experiencing volatility. Most major cryptocurrencies have also performed poorly over the last six months, with Bitcoin losing 39%, Ethereum declining 54%, and Dogecoin dropping 63%. Stocks have also fluctuated, with investors rotating out of tech into value stocks.

XRP’s drop isn’t due to any significant failures on its part. The downturn has hit the entire crypto market. That said, while most cryptocurrencies suffer during downturns, not all recover when the market rebounds, so it’s not a given that XRP will succeed going forward.

Why XRP could continue to struggle

XRP’s real-world value is based on its role in Ripple Payments, a payment network for financial institutions. Ripple Payments uses blockchain technology to send cross-border payments quickly and with low transaction fees. Banks that partner with Ripple can also use XRP as a bridge currency, converting payments from the sender’s currency to XRP and then to the recipient’s currency.

Today’s Change

(-0.74%) $-0.01

Current Price

$1.39

Key Data Points

Market Cap

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$85B

Day’s Range

$1.39 – $1.40

52wk Range

$1.14 – $3.65

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Volume

1.4B

It’s an interesting idea, but since XRP’s launch way back in 2012, several problems have emerged. Financial institutions can and often do use Ripple Payments without XRP. Of the 300-plus institutions using Ripple Payments, only a handful also use XRP. Even when cross-border payments involve XRP, it serves a brief role. The XRP tokens are converted to the destination currency in seconds.

Ripple also launched its own stablecoin, Ripple USD, last year, and it currently has a market cap of $1.6 billion. Although it’s possible that XRP and Ripple USD can coexist, Ripple USD theoretically works even better as a bridge currency, since it doesn’t have XRP’s volatility.

The Clarity Act is a potential growth catalyst

It’s not all bad news for XRP. The U.S. Senate Banking Committee is considering the Clarity Act, which would provide a regulatory framework for digital assets. Notably, it would classify XRP as a digital commodity and not a security. U.S. banks and asset managers would effectively have the green light to fully integrate XRP into operations, including using it as a bridge currency in international payments.

Even if the Clarity Act passes, there’s no guarantee XRP’s price will increase. Last August, issuer Ripple finally ended its lawsuit with the SEC, but closing that book didn’t provide any positive momentum for XRP.

If you’re bullish on XRP, now is a good time to add to your position. However, given the risk involved, you should avoid making it a significant position in your portfolio. Consider investing in other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as cryptocurrency stocks. That way, you can still benefit from a market recovery, even if XRP underperforms.