A former U.S. Army combat medic and entrepreneur has suggested that XRP could overtake Bitcoin as the largest crypto asset over the next six years.
This bold forecast came from Patrick L. Riley, who calls himself an acquired savant on X. Riley has persistently made bullish statements surrounding XRP, especially considering institutional adoption and price action, insisting that XRP has the potential to replace Bitcoin at the top.
Key Points
- Since it kick-started the cryptocurrency market in 2009, Bitcoin has remained the largest asset in the space, maintaining a large gap with others.
- While XRP still holds a much lower valuation than Bitcoin, XRP community figures have insisted that the altcoin has the potential to overtake the premier crypto asset.
- Patrick L. Riley, an American veteran and XRP community influencer, believes XRP could take the no. 1 spot from Bitcoin within six years.
- Currently, XRP changes hands at $1.42, with its $86 billion market cap far below Bitcoin’s valuation of $1.378 trillion.
- XRP would have to rise to $22.6 to claim the $1.378 trillion market cap that would allow it challenge BTC for the top spot.
Bitcoin’s Current Market Position Relative to XRP
Despite this, Bitcoin still maintains a large gap of more than $1 trillion between second-placed Ethereum at $242 billion. As for XRP, the market turbulence pushed its valuation from the $216 billion peak in July 2025 to the current $85.83 billion. With this, Bitcoin is nearly 16x larger than XRP.
Could Bitcoin Drop to $1,000?
Still, Riley believes XRP has the potential to overtake Bitcoin. In his recent commentary, the market commentator first called attention to three trendlines that have guided Bitcoin’s price action since launch. The first trendline, a red one, emerged when Bitcoin launched, while the second one, a green trendline, sprang up in 2014, essentially 12 years ago. The third purple trendline came up after the December 2017 peak.
XRP 1W Chart | Patrick L RileyNotably, Bitcoin slipped below the 12-year-old green trendline when it dropped from the September 2021 high of $69,000. Since then, Bitcoin has failed to reclaim this trendline despite hitting a new all-time high of $126,000 in October 2025. For BTC to push above this trendline, its price must rise toward the $600,000 area, a 776% increase from here.
Amid the ongoing downtrend, Bitcoin has even slipped below the red trendline, which acted as support until late January this year. According to Riley, it is imperative that Bitcoin reclaims the green stationed around $600,000. According to him, if the premier crypto asset fails to do this, its price could drop to $1,000, representing a 98% crash.
XRP to Take Top Spot in 6 Years?
Speaking further, Riley argued that whether Bitcoin reclaims the trendline at $600,000 or drops to $1,000, XRP could still take the top spot from it. He suggested that this could happen within six years, putting the deadline in 2032
According to him, once XRP becomes the top crypto asset, this development would relegate Bitcoin to a mere “nostalgia collectible.” With BTC boasting a market cap of $1.37 trillion, XRP would have to rally to $22.6 per token to challenge it for the top spot. This would represent a 1,491% increase from the current price of $1.42. However, such an event remains highly speculative.
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