Will XRP outperform BTC in 2025? In the following piece we try to provide some clarity on whats undoubtedly one of the most commonly asked question by Ripple enthusiasts.

That said, this market cycle seems to be quite different than the previous ones in that Bitcoin continues to dominate and altcoins are unable to catch up. In the past year, BTCs dominance has increased from around 53% to 62%.

Source: CoinMarketCap What does this tell us? Well, at the very least, with one slight exception around November 2024, there has been a pronounced lack of altcoin seasons, or periods when altcoins were performing better than Bitcoin. However, this doesnt mean that a single altcoin, like XRP, cant be a better performer than BTC going forward in 2025. Lets take a look at a few factors that might contribute to it.

Ripples Expansion in Cross-Border Payments

Beyond technicalities and ecosystem development, a tangible expansion of Ripples operations within the cross-border payment field could prove to be a catalyst for XRPs price. And they seem to have their under the radar as well, but perhaps not in the way many tradfi aficionados were expecting.

As CryptoPotato reported, there were rumors that Ripple made an offer to buy Cricle for $5 billion. To those unfamiliar, Circle is the issuer of the second-largest (and fully regulated) stablecoin in the world USDC. Despite the reported refusal, it seems obvious that Brad Garlinghouse and his team are pushing to expand their presence in the stablecoin industry, which, according to many, is one of the best and proven use cases for crypto.

This is also evidenced by Ripples own effort in the space the RLUSD stablecoin launched earlier this year. Although nowhere near the leading stablecoins, it does boast a circulating supply of around $320 million and $100 million worth of trading volume for the past 24 hours. In addition, RLUSD is MiCA-compliant, meaning that it aims to chip away directly at USDTs dominance in Western Europe.

XRP ETFs: A Potential Price Rally Trigger?

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds launched at the beginning of 2024 and theyve been a major catalyst for its price, spurring a wave of institutional and retail investments.

Many analysts hope that the same will happen to XRP if spot ETFs are approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Nate Geraci, president at ETF Store said:

[] seems obvious [that] spot XRP ETF approval [is] simply a matter of time IMO. And yes, I expect BlackRock, Fidelity, etc, to all be involved. XRP Currently 3rd largest non-stablecoin crypto asset by market cap. Largest ETF issuers arent going to ignore this.

But even if thats the case, its important to remain objective and realistic. The mere approval of an ETF could act as a short-term price catalyst for speculators, but it alone isnt enough for sustained, long-term growth.

Its interesting to see what happens in this regard, though, because there is a company behind XRP after all and it could leverage the products into new potential partnerships and avenues.

Macroeconomic Environment

Its no secret that the macroeconomic environment plays a major role when it comes to crypto prices. This became obvious as daylight with Donald Trumps recent trade war with basically the entire world.

But a strong US economy and Trumps promise to make the country the capital of crypto could play into the favor of US-based companies. Many have already confirmed a notable shift in sentiment towards these entities where people were previously sceptical to work with them are now more than eager.

Ripple is one of the largest cryptocurrency firms along the ranks of Coinbase, Kraken, and others. Favorable regulations and a thriving local economy could also benefit its futre and, by extention, that of XRP.