XRP Emerges As Retail Favorite, Outpacing Bitcoin's Institutional Rally: Analyst Unpacks Their Distinct Journeys

A prominent cryptocurrency analytics firm highlighted XRP’s XRP/USD growing popularity among retail investors on Thursday, contrasting it with Bitcoin’s BTC/USD more institutionally driven rally.

What Happened: In an X post, Glassnode pointed out a significant divergence between XRP’s and Bitcoin’s rally paths.

Since the 2022 cycle low, XRP has seen a 490% increase in active addresses, while Bitcoin has only seen a 10% increase, the research firm said, an indication of “sharp” retail interest.

Glassnode noted that despite similar price gains since the 2022 cycle low, roughly 5x to 6x, the trajectories of the two cryptocurrencies have differed significantly. Bitcoin has shown steady, catalyst-driven growth, while XRP traded flat until a December breakout, driven by short-term retail speculation.

$XRP has emerged as a new retail favorite this cycle, diverging from #Bitcoin's more institutional-driven rally. Since the 2022 cycle low, $XRP active addresses are up +490%, while $BTC has only seen a +10% increase – a sharp signal of speculative retail demand. pic.twitter.com/mGRuktUVXK

— glassnode (@glassnode) April 3, 2025

See Also: Arthur Hayes Predicts Bitcoin To Hit $250,000 By End Of Year

Moreover, XRP’s realized market capitalization, a measure of the total capital invested, surged from $30 billion to $64 billion during this period, with more than half coming from investors in the last six months. This indicated that the rally was retail-driven.

It’s also worth noting that search interest for XRP hit 100 earlier in January, according to Google Trends, indicating peak popularity. However, the excitement has considerably ebbed since then.

Why It Matters: The analysis comes at a time when leading cryptocurrencies have held steady, even as stock markets have been battered by tariff moves. On Thursday, Bitcoin dipped below $82,000 in the early trading hours but recovered to $83,000 by evening.

On the broader timeframe, though, it has been a rough ride, with Bitcoin and XRP losing 5.42% and 18%, respectively, over the month.

Price Action:  At the time of writing, XRP was exchanging hands at $2.05, down 0.01% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Bitcoin traded at $82,960.42, down 0.85%.

Image via Shutterstock

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.