Better Cryptocurrency to Buy With $2,000 and Hold for 5 Years: XRP vs. Ethereum

XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) are two of the biggest cryptocurrencies, yet their focuses are very different.

XRP aims to rapidly and accurately process money transfers around the world, potentially including the tokenzation of real-world assets into its transfer capabilities.

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Ethereum is a more traditional blockchain, with extensive smart-contract capabilities and an ecosystem of projects under the headings of decentralized finance (DeFi), and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), among others.

Both have proved their staying power in the world of cryptocurrency, and it is reasonable to expect that both coins will be around, and likely trading at a higher price, during the next five years and beyond.

That makes choosing between these two somewhat difficult, even with a modest investment of just $2,000. Let's dig into the details and explore which is the better option.

Ethereum's present is uncomfortable, but the future is bright

As the second-most-valuable cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, Ethereum has a lot of inertia in its favor. With a market cap of more than $325 billion and a full cohort of evangelists among developers, investors, traders, and casual users, most of the other blockchains of today were made in response to Ethereum's feature set and performance.

During the past three years, it lost about 9% of its value, compared with XRP's gain of more than 240%. But the investment thesis for buying it is still quite strong, especially with a stake on the order of $2,000 that won't break the bank. After all, the chances of its ecosystem of applications and projects drying up overnight is next to zero, and many of the efforts hosted on its chain can falter without detracting from the overall level of demand for the coin.

Presently, the chain can process about 30 transactions per second, and despite some long-standing issues with high gas (user) fees, it is significantly cheaper and faster than in the past.

The catalyst of the moment for Ethereum is the planned launch of its Lightchain AI platform, which will enable its blockchain to train and optimize artificial intelligence (AI) models, as well as execute tasks created by AI agents.

At the moment, it's unclear exactly how much demand that will drive for the token. But at best, it could cement the chain's budding leadership in AI, supplanting smaller competitors like Solana, and set off a surge in demand for the coin prompted by AI agents that need to transact and to use smart contracts.

XRP's tight focus makes it easier to see the ceiling for growth

In contrast to Ethereum, XRP is not trying to build a rich ecosystem of DeFi projects. It's trying to be a streamlined and highly efficient technical solution for making mass cross-border money transfers that are quick, cheap, and easily verifiable. So, it's in direct conflict with older international payment-processor systems, all of which have very substantial leads in adoption as well as familiarity among financial institutions.

Its key performance metrics evoke that goal. It processes as many as 1,500 transactions per second, for now, with a very high likelihood of processing many times that number in the future as the coin gains adoption among financial institutions. On average, each of those transactions costs a fraction of a penny, making it much cheaper than the several cents required to process most Ethereum transactions.

Today, with a market cap of about $133 billion, it's the fourth most-valuable cryptocurrency, which is notable because it earned that distinction without any need for features like smart contracts or a product ecosystem. So, when the chain's volume is $9.1 billion within a 24 hour span as of Feb. 5, that's a clear sign that the coin is being used for its intended purpose as defined by its developers, who remian actively engaged in upgrading the chain's capabilities and throughput.

It's a no-brainer that XRP is going to continue being a coin that's in demand for its use in money transfers. But unless something major changes, the vision at the core of the coin is much more limited than Ethereum's. That makes it more likely to succeed at what it sets out to do, but much less likely to be able to gain upside from emerging trends like AI, which it might not be flexible enough to accommodate.

Therefore, Ethereum is the better option to buy with your $2,000 investment, assuming you're willing to hold on to it for five years or so. XRP isn't a bad investment, it's just that it will be fighting against a hoard of other payment processing and money transfer methods every step of the way, rather than fostering an ecosystem that potentially can grow exponentially.

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Alex Carchidi has positions in Ethereum and Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.