Should You Forget XRP and Buy This Soaring Cryptocurrency Instead?

Key Points

• While XRP is still outperforming Ethereum for the year, Ethereum has been soaring over the summer, so the performance gap is narrowing.
• The formation of new Ethereum Treasury Companies has been bullish for Ethereum's future growth prospects.
• The stablecoin investment thesis favors Ethereum, due to its dominant market position in stablecoins.
• 10 stocks we like better than Ethereum ›

XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) remains the top-performing major cryptocurrency of 2025. Year to date, XRP is up a resounding 42%. By way of comparison, crypto bellwether Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is only up 22%. So it's easy to see why many investors are focused on XRP.

But don't sleep on Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), the world's second-largest cryptocurrency. For the year, it is only up a modest 8%. However, over the past 30 days, Ethereum is up a head-spinning 40%. It now has the sort of momentum that XRP had earlier in the year. So should investors shift their focus from XRP to Ethereum in the second half of 2025?

The arrival of Ethereum Treasury Companies

The one catalyst that set off Ethereum's summer rally was the sudden appearance of high-profile Ethereum Treasury Companies. These companies, inspired by the success of Bitcoin Treasury Companies, are designed to do just one thing: Buy as much Ethereum as they possibly can, as fast as they can.

The one name that really stands out here is Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSEMKT: BMNR). Before June 2025, it was a sleepy little Bitcoin mining company. But then it hired Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee as its chairman, and things have really taken off. The company is in the process of reinventing itself as the world's top Ethereum Treasury Company.

Given Tom Lee's public profile, he's the sort of person who often pops up on CNBC. Increasingly, he's talking up the merits of investing in Ethereum. In doing so, he's playing the same evangelist role that Michael Saylor of Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) does for Bitcoin. So, given all this new buzz, other Ethereum Treasury Companies are also launching.

Image source: Getty Images. It should be pointed out that new XRP Treasury Companies have also formed this summer. But there is much less enthusiasm for them than for the new Ethereum Treasury Companies. That could change over the next 12 months, but for now, Ethereum has the clear edge.

The stablecoin investment thesis

There's another factor in Ethereum's favor: The rise to prominence of stablecoins. Everyone, it seems, has been talking about stablecoins this summer, from retailers to fintech companies to Silicon Valley giants. The U.S. Treasury Department has also pushed the stablecoin agenda.

Story ContinuesAnd guess what? The top blockchain for stablecoins right now is Ethereum. It accounts for a reported 49% of all stablecoin activity right now. The only other blockchain that comes close is Tron (CRYPTO: TRX).

In contrast, XRP is almost nowhere to be found in the ongoing debate over stablecoins. That's despite the fact that Ripple, the company behind the XRP token, launched a stablecoin of its own in December 2024 with the stated goal of boosting demand for XRP.

As might be expected, a very strong stablecoin investment thesis is starting to form around Ethereum. The growing perception is that it is going to become a primary beneficiary of stablecoin adoption. As more people begin using stablecoins for activities like making online transactions, it should lead to new activity flourishing on the Ethereum blockchain, as well as a much healthier Ethereum ecosystem.

Renewed activity in spot Ethereum ETFs

Ethereum and Bitcoin are currently the only two cryptocurrencies with spot crypto ETFs. That is a key selling point with institutional investors, who are using these ETFs as a way to get exposure to the crypto market.

Admittedly, earlier in the year, there was a lot of talk over the slowing pace of money flows into Ethereum ETFs. In some months, there were actually net outflows. That makes sense -- Ethereum's performance earlier in the year was dreadful, and investors were quite rightly taking their money out of spot Ethereum ETFs and moving it elsewhere.

But here's the thing: Ethereum's summer rally has resulted in a new flood of money coming into the spot Ethereum ETFs. That's helping to push Ethereum higher as well.

That being said, new spot XRP ETFs could be coming any moment now. The SEC is currently reviewing a handful of spot XRP ETF applications, and has until mid-October to render a judgment on them. If the SEC approves them, that might help to close the "ETF gap" between XRP and Ethereum. But for now, Ethereum has the edge.

Ethereum is hardly a risk-free investment

Just remember: Even though there are several factors that appear to make Ethereum a more attractive investment than XRP right now, it's hardly a risk-free investment. There's still enormous volatility in crypto, and Ethereum is no exception.

Helping to mitigate this risk is Ethereum's long track record of performance that dates back to 2015. Investors now have a decade's worth of data to digest. If history is any guide, Ethereum will once again become a top market performer. Thus, while I can understand the allure of investing in an inexpensive $3 crypto like XRP, I'd rather put my money behind an expensive $3,600 crypto like Ethereum.

Should you buy stock in Ethereum right now?

Before you buy stock in Ethereum, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Ethereum wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $636,563!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,108,033!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,047% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 181% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025

Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Should You Forget XRP and Buy This Soaring Cryptocurrency Instead? was originally published by The Motley Fool

View Comments