Top Analyst Suggests Solana Could Overtake XRP in Market Cap: Here’s Why and When
Solana (SOL), currently the seventh largest cryptocurrency by market cap—behind Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), USDT, Binance Coin (BNB), XRP, and USDC—may be on its way to surpassing its nearest competitor, XRP.
This shift may be largely due to the intensification of the infrastructure race between the two projects, as highlighted by market analyst Alex Carchidi of the Motley Fool in a report on Tuesday.
The Race For Tokenization Capital
Although XRP has a market capitalization of about 87 billion compared to Solana’s $50 billion at the time of writing, both assets strive to be the backbone of the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs), such as stocks and assets converted to trading on blockchains.
Carchidi notes that Solana’s strength lies in its speed and volatility, making it uniquely suited to managing tokenized assets that require rapid movement at scale—such as stocks, bonds, and commodity contracts.
The Solana platform currently has an estimated $272 million worth of tokens circulating within its ecosystem, marking a 14% increase over the 30-day period ending March 5.
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Forecasts raise the total market value token shares could rise to more than $38 billion by 2035, up from $1 billion today, indicating a competitive growth environment.
The argument that Solana could outperform XRP rests on its desire to become a central hub for trading stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and institutional funds around the clock—all at minimal cost.
Carchidi argues that Solana doesn’t necessarily need to capture 100% of the tokenized asset market to see significant price appreciation.
In the meantime market cap it is already so close to XRP that even a small gain at the expense of XRP may favor Solana. Carchidi admits that Solana could change XRP. However, SOL’s approach to surpassing XRP is not without its challenges.
XRP’s Edge Against Solana
Currently, the The XRP Ledger (XRPL) holds approximately $453 million worth of token assets available for trading, rather than just record keeping. The stablecoin base on XRPL is currently estimated at $432 million.
The majority of XRP’s trading token assets consist of US Treasury bills and government bonds worth approximately $294 million. From the outside, this setup may not seem to threaten Solana’s growth trajectory.
However, the analyst argues that XRP has its advantages. Known for its speed and low transaction costs, XRP also benefits from a strong compliance infrastructure built into its blockchain.
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This allows financial institutions looking to tokenize assets—such as bonds, stocks, or securities—to avoid the time-consuming process of developing a compliance framework from scratch. As a result, XRP may attract more net worth related to tokens in the next few years.
Despite these challenges, the analyst believes that Solana will eventually succeed XRP in terms of valuation, possibly in 2030 and beyond, due to its large ecosystem plans.
At the time of writing, Solana was trading at around $88.48, up 2.7% in the last 24 hours. XRP, on the other hand, exceeded the growth of SOL in the same period, with gains approaching 5% and tokens trading at $1.43.
Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
