Which of these volatile cryptocurrencies has a brighter future?
Ether ( ETH 0.64% ) and XRP ( XRP -0.39% ) have both generated life-changing gains for their patient long-term investors. A $10,000 investment in Ether made 10 years ago and held would have blossomed into a holding worth $52.85 million today. A similar investment in XRP would be worth $4.19 million.
Both experienced steep climbs and sharp falls along the way to those impressive returns. But which of these high-flying cryptocurrencies has a brighter future?
The differences between Ether and XRP
Ether is the native token of the Ethereum blockchain. It was once mined using an energy-intensive proof-of-work ( PoW ) validation mechanism like Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) , but Ethereum transitioned to the more ener