As the crypto market continues to heat up, there is a fierce competition at the top of the league. In a noteworthy development, data shows that Solana is on the verge of surpassing XRP in its long-held spot as the third-largest altcoin.
Two giant altcoins are fighting: SOL has its eye on XRP!
According to data from CoinMarketCap, Solana gained 15.44% in the last 24 hours. Thus, it increased its seven-day cumulative growth to over 20%. Effectively, SOL was changing hands at $73.26 at the time of writing. On the other hand, XRP saw a 2.7% increase on a daily basis. Moreover, its one-week cumulative performance shows a growth rate of 6.24%. XRP was trading at $0.6491.
Additionally, trading volume has taken a significant hit of around 30%, with market participants trading $1.39 billion in XRP in the past day. Meanwhile, Solana is rapidly gaining the traction that XRP has lost. Because SOL showed positive growth in metrics where XRP was declining. Especially with the altcoin price rising above $70, the crypto market share reached $31.1 billion. According to CoinMarketCap data, this figure represents an increase of 15’44% from the value recorded the previous day. Additionally, Solana’s 24-hour trading volume increased by 116%, reaching $4.156 billion. Interestingly, this volume is almost three times the trading volume of XRP during the same period.
Solana and XRP market data. Source: CoinMarketCapJust three months ago, Solana was behind digital assets such as Dogecoin, Cardano and the stablecoin USDC. At the time, it was ranked ninth among the most prominent cryptocurrencies. However, Solana has surpassed Dogecoin, Cardano and USDC. Now, altcoin Solana has its eye on XRP.
Controversy around SOL surpassing XRP
Solana’s potential to outperform XRP has sparked controversy in the XRP community. Some argue that the situation does not mean anything significant. Others believe this could affect the confidence of altcoin investors. XRP YouTuber Moon Lambo argued that the fact that another coin is outperforming XRP does not mean there is an inherent flaw in choosing XRP as an investment. Lambo stated that he personally would not have any negative feelings in such a situation, as XRP would one day have its own day. In this context, YouTuber shared the following:
If this happens, I think it will emotionally devastate some XRP holders. Which is ridiculous. Because just because another coin is currently performing better than XRP does not mean that XRP is bad or that there is something wrong with it. Personally, I will not have negative feelings…
If this happens I think it will emotionally devastate some $XRP holders. Which is silly. Because obviously another coin in the moment performing better than $XRP does not mean that $XRP is bad or that there’s something wrong with it.
I personally won’t have negative feel feels…
— Moon Lambo (@MoonLamboio) December 8, 2023
The factor behind Solana’s rise
cryptokoin.com As you follow from , SOL started to rise from the level of $ 19,609 in September. During this period, the altcoin reached its current position with a growth rate exceeding 266%. Meanwhile, over the same 90-day period, XRP gained only 26%. Thus, it reached its current position of around $0.64.
SOL’s astronomical move follows a significant network upgrade in the Solana ecosystem, according to a researcher at on-chain analytics firm Messari. In a recent post, the researcher congratulated Solana developers for implementing numerous upgrades that address issues that previously affected the altcoin project. “Between improving viability and increasing liquidity, the case for Solana has probably never been stronger than it is today,” the Messari researcher said.
