Bitcoin or Ripple: Which Is the Better Buy?

Cryptocurrencies were climbing this week from bullish news, with Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) and Ripple (CRYPTO:XRP) leading the charge.

Amy Legate-Wolfe

Amy became interested in investing in 2018 after having her first daughter. After receiving a masters degree in journalism from Western University, she became frustrated that the finance industry remained a confusing place for Canadians like her: new parents, millennials, and other young people who needed to understand their finances. Now, Amy focuses on tech companies and renewable energy for growth opportunities, coupling that with long-term investing strategies and equities. She also provides investors with a daily newsletter, Canada Stock Digest, for daily market updates. Before joining Motley Fool Canada, she wrote for major news organizations including HuffPost, CTVNews.ca, and CBC. When she’s not researching investing strategies, Amy’s time is pretty much monopolized by her two wild daughters, but in what little spare time she has she loves to do yoga, go on walks with her dog, and travel with her husband. Follow Amy on LinkedIn and Canada Stock Digest. Favorite Investment Quote: “October: This is one of the particularly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February.” – Mark Twain

Published February 9, 2022 2:56 pm EST

Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) and XRP (CRYPTO:XRP) have both been making large gains this week. With strong earnings coming in, more jobs in the U.S. market than originally thought, and a strong economy, Motley Fool investors are ready to jump back into cryptocurrency.

Both Bitcoin and Ripple have done well this week. Of course, both are at entirely different prices. Still, cheap doesn’t mean good, and neither does expensive when it comes to stocks. So which should Motley Fool investors buy today?

cryptocurrency, crypto, blockcahin — Image source: Getty Images

Bitcoin

Bitcoin has long been touted as the king of cryptocurrency. After passing $85,000 per token in the last year, it soon dropped off, especially as tech stocks fell as well. After hitting January lows, however, Bitcoin is back up 33% as of writing to about $56,000.

Now there are a few things to point out when it comes to Bitcoin. First, there are numerous new digital currencies coming on the market all the time. These have room for far strong growth in terms of returns. Especially as Bitcoin continues to remain at such incredible prices.

That being said, the entire cryptocurrency world seems to revolve around Bitcoin. Quite literally. If there is positive movement for Bitcoin, pretty much every other cryptocurrency grows along with it. And of course, the reverse is true.

That’s why Bitcoin seems to continue to be the king at the top of the heap. And that will likely be the case for at least the next decade, if not more. So it does seem like a pretty safe bet for long-term Motley Fool investors.

Ripple

Then there’s Ripple. Now this week, Ripple grew after Bitcoin also started to climb. And for the same reasons. However, there was an additional reason that this cryptocurrency started to jump. That comes from the preliminary results of its case against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Ripple management were the focus of a case where the SEC raised concerns that management handed out tokens to potential investors as far back as 2012. However, executives provided documents to prove this wasn’t the case. Therefore, it’s expected that the judge will throw the case out.

This also saw Ripple climb even higher this week. Percentage-wise, it grew an astounding 35% compared to Bitcoin and its 6%. However, Ripple remains just above the $1 mark. So those moves are far more substantial when it’s only moving by a few cents.

Foolish takeaway

So what should Motley Fool investors think when it comes to Bitcoin and Ripple? In the short term, it looks like Ripple definitely has an advantage. Should the SEC ruling become official, it’s likely it will see yet another boost. In fact, it’s still edging towards that US$1 mark.

But long-term investors who can afford Bitcoin would probably do better to consider it instead. In fact, there are some predicting the token to rise to US$200,000 in 2022. While I think that’s a stretch, even US$100,000 would be an incredible doubling of today’s price.