Got $1,500? Here's Why I'd Pick XRP Over Cardano for the Next 10 Years

Key Points

Both XRP and Cardano have lost a lot of their value compared to their peaks.

XRP is seeing some success in getting capital to live on its chain.

Cardano is just now seriously starting with trying to attract capital for the first time.

• 10 stocks we like better than XRP ›

When two cryptocurrencies look like they're priced at deep discounts, an investment of $1,500 can feel like it could stretch a lot further than usual. On that note, XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) and Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) are both bruised badly, with XRP more than 62% off its peak and Cardano down 91% from its all-time high set in late 2021.

But "discounted" prices are only actual bargains if the assets have somewhere compelling to go in the future. And if you're looking to find a crypto investment to hold for the next 10 years, only one of these coins looks like it has a roadmap.

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XRP is being fit to a productive purpose

One of the simplest ways to evaluate a blockchain's long-term prospects is to ask who is parking real money on it, why they're willing to do that, and for how long they're likely to stick around.

The XRP Ledger (XRPL) has accumulated over $410 million in tradable, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), which are financial instruments like U.S. Treasuries and private credit notes that are tracked on a blockchain. That figure was just $5 million at the start of 2025, and it indicates that asset managers and financial institutions looking to manage their tokenized assets are taking an interest in what the XRPL has to offer.

That makes sense, as Ripple, the company that issues XRP, has been layering on capabilities that make the coin more valuable and the chain a stickier home for capital.

In particular, regulatory compliance is where XRP's design separates itself. Trustlines, transaction clawbacks, authorized accounts, and asset freeze functions are all now built into the protocol, thereby letting asset issuers enforce the rules they're legally obliged to enforce without the need for third-party smart contracts. Banks don't adopt technology they can't audit for regulatory compliance, and XRP is one of the few chains where that tooling is native.

Ripple also recently acquired a prime broker enabling stablecoin-backed lending and XRP-settled clearing, as well as a crypto custody company and other related businesses. When paired with the chain's expanding set of built-in features, these acquisitions form an interlocking financial stack that gives institutions fewer reasons to move capital off-chain and fewer obstacles preventing trying it out as part of a pilot program.

And if the early successes with building up the RWA capital base continue, XRP will have a lot more money on its network in 2036 compared to today, which will make the coin a lot more valuable.

Can Cardano convince people its ambitions are worthwhile?

Cardano is a general-purpose, smart-contract blockchain that's still in the process of discovering itself. While it's technically capable of doing most of what much larger chains like Ethereum can, it's difficult to differentiate because it doesn't excel in any one dimension, save for the implementation of the cautious and academia-like software development process that its community follows.

Cardano's total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols is $138 million. Compared to its larger competitors, that sum is close to negligible. Similarly, its base of stablecoin capital is worth approximately $48 million total versus XRP's $306 million. The bigger problem is that the network doesn't seem to have a clear idea of who should be using that capital and for what purpose.

On April 7, the chain announced a $80 million fund that's meant to accelerate the coin's institutional adoption and seed the ecosystem with tokenized real world asset projects. That's a tiny turn in the right direction, but it's worth noticing that it's extremely late; aside from XRP, there are already a few other chains that are trying to appeal to financial institutions and to build up their tokenized asset bases.

There's a clear winner

For an investor with $1,500 and a long time horizon, XRP's institutional traction, growing base of on-chain capital, and its focus on financial institutions as its target users make it a much better pick than Cardano.

Cardano's bid to find users in institutions may succeed, and its on-chain asset base may grow. But it isn't priced as a bargain at all. It'll be fighting other networks, which are better positioned in terms of their capabilities as well as their available financing.

So for now, XRP is the winner of this match up, though you probably shouldn't invest in it until your portfolio is diversified, as the next 10 years are sure to see a handful of different market conditions that you'll need to be prepared for.

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

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.