2013 Early Investor Says XRP Will Eventually Crush Bitcoin

▲ XRP

Amid the massive shift of the global financial system toward on-chain infrastructure, a bold prediction has emerged that XRP will overwhelmingly surpass Bitcoin (BTC) in market capitalization and seize absolute dominance in the virtual asset market.

According to cryptocurrency-focused media outlet The Crypto Basic on February 20 (local time), Pumpius, an early investor who has been investing in Bitcoin since 2013, recently claimed on his X (formerly Twitter) account that all central banks around the world will ultimately adopt XRP as a bridge asset. Pumpius argued that this fundamental transformation of the financial ecosystem has already begun to materialize, and once central bank adoption accelerates in earnest, XRP’s value will surpass Bitcoin’s by dozens of times.

The core basis of this outlook lies in the instability of the traditional foreign exchange market and extreme volatility in the bond market. Pumpius asserted that introducing a blockchain-based foreign exchange settlement system is essential to overcome the limitations of existing interbank networks, evaluating XRP and the XRP Ledger as the optimal neutral intermediary asset. Ripple President Monica Long also lent support to this optimism, suggesting that 2026 will mark the first year of explosive institutional adoption.

From a technical perspective, the XRP Ledger offers transaction speeds capable of completing cross-border payments within seconds, along with transparent audit tracking capabilities. If a model becomes established in which regulated euro and dollar liquidity flow on-chain using XRP as a bridge asset, XRP will move beyond being merely a speculative asset and become a core connective layer linking the global monetary system. Pumpius projected that such tangible utility would become a powerful driver of price appreciation surpassing Bitcoin’s scarcity-based value proposition.

Market analysts point out that XRP must overcome the current market capitalization gap to surpass Bitcoin. While Bitcoin currently boasts a valuation in the trillions of dollars, XRP’s market capitalization remains around $86 billion, meaning trillions of dollars in new capital inflows would be required to reverse the situation. However, analyst Cameron Scrubs maintains his forecast that by 2030, XRP will surpass both Bitcoin and Ethereum to claim the top position in market capitalization, fueling market expectations.

These voices predicting a seismic shift in the virtual asset market are gaining further credibility as regulatory clarity improves and large-scale institutional entry approaches. While Bitcoin continues to solidify its status as digital gold, XRP is evolving into a standard asset for global financial settlement, preparing to fundamentally reshape the market landscape. Investors worldwide are closely watching the actual scale of institutional adoption set to unfold in 2026 and the moves of central banks, focusing on whether a historic reversal will become reality.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for investment reference purposes only, and we are not responsible for any investment losses resulting from its use. The content should be interpreted solely for informational purposes.