XRP, SOLANA, ETHEREUM: WHY THEY DON'T THREATEN BITCOIN
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For over a decade, the cryptocurrency market has resembled a battlefield. Each year sees the birth of a new wave of projects presented as "the ultimate evolution," "the true successor to Bitcoin," "the blockchain that will revolutionize everything." The rhetoric changes, the promises follow one another, but the mechanics always remain the same: seduce with novelty, rely on technological slogans, wave the illusion of superiority, and convince the crowd that it's time to turn the page on Bitcoin. Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and hundreds of others have come and gone, each with their own fanfares, their promises of speed, innovation, or mass adoption. Yet one thing remains implacable: despite all the sirens, Bitcoin remains alone at the top, untouchable in its role as the sovereign digital currency.
Take XRP. Its proponents have been touting it for years as "the ideal solution for banks," "the future of international finance," "the asset that will replace SWIFT." They tout its speed, its efficiency, and its partnerships. But behind this window dressing lies a very different reality: XRP is not decentralized. It's a token created, issued, and controlled by a private company, Ripple Labs. Its value relies less on an incorruptible protocol than on this company's ability to sign contracts and convince institutions. In other words, XRP is nothing revolutionary: it's simply a banking product disguised as crypto. Its reliance on a centralized actor, its pre-mined supply, and its run-ins with the SEC all show that it doesn't play in the same league as Bitcoin.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, is independent of any corporation. There is no office, no CEO, no board of directors. Its existence is distributed across a global network of miners and nodes that validate blocks according to an open protocol. No lawsuit can stop it. No commercial contract can make it more or less valuable. Its legitimacy is etched in the code, and it is guaranteed by a global consensus. XRP, despite its ambitions, remains a Monopoly piece compared to this immutability.
Ethereum, then. Often presented as the “world computer,” it has undeniably attracted an ecosystem of developers, DeFi projects, NFTs, and various innovations. But Ethereum suffers from a major problem: its governance. Its rules change. Its parameters evolve. Its monetary supply is not fixed. Its protocol transforms according to the decisions of a small group of core developers and foundations. The famous transition to Proof of Stake is the perfect example. The rules changed, the foundations were altered, and what was supposed to be a decentralized currency became a system governed by those who own the most tokens. Wealth begets wealth, and centralization sets in through dominant validators. Ethereum is not an incorruptible currency; it is an experimental platform subject to the economic and political pressures of its stakeholders.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, has never changed its fundamental rule: twenty-one million bitcoins, not one more. This intangible limit is its foundation. It's what gives it its absolute scarcity, its immutable value, and its role as a long-term store of value. Ethereum can invent smart contracts, financial protocols, and technical innovations, but it cannot claim to be a sovereign currency. Because a currency, to be credible, must be incorruptible. And Ethereum, with its changing governance, is not.
Solana, finally, embodies the new generation of "fast blockchains." Its proponents boast thousands of transactions per second, a seamless experience, and near-zero fees. It's the blockchain that attracts traders, gaming projects, and memecoins. But behind the speed lies a fundamental flaw: Solana sacrifices decentralization. Its network relies on a limited number of validators that are extremely expensive to operate. This means that only powerful players with significant financial resources can truly participate in securing the network. In practice, this concentrates power in the hands of a few. And every time Solana suffers an outage and it has happened several times everything grinds to a halt. A blockchain that shuts down like a crashed server has no legitimacy to claim to replace Bitcoin.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, accepts its technical limitations. It is not designed to process thousands of transactions per second directly on its base layer. But this limitation is voluntary; it is the price of security and decentralization. Scalability solutions, such as the Lightning Network, allow for increased capacity without sacrificing the foundations. Bitcoin does not seek to impress with marketing figures. It seeks to endure, to remain incorruptible, to maintain an architecture that stands the test of time.
The ultimate argument, which we hear time and time again, is that "Bitcoin is outdated," that "the technology is evolving," that "other projects are faster, more modern, more innovative." But those who hold this discourse forget one essential thing: Bitcoin is not a startup. Bitcoin is not a product seeking to be replaced by a more efficient model. Bitcoin is a disruption. It is a unique invention, a monetary protocol that has solved once and for all the problem of double-spending and digital sovereignty. It does not need to be supplanted because it has already served its purpose. Everything else is just variation, marginal improvement, peripheral experimentation.
Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and the others will continue to exist. They will attract developers, speculators, and traders. They will have their heyday, their boom and bust cycles, their frenzied moments. But they pose no threat to Bitcoin. Because none rests on such an incorruptible foundation. Because none has the same immutability, the same neutrality, the same lack of a leader or foundation. Because none represents a global currency independent of states and corporations.
Confusion often stems from the use of the word "crypto." By lumping everything together, it's suggested there's a level playing field between Bitcoin and altcoins. But in reality, that's not the case. Bitcoin is in a league of its own. It's not just another crypto, it's the be-all and end-all of the industry. Altcoins aren't competitors; they're derivatives, peripheral experiences sometimes interesting, often pointless, but always secondary.
The real battle isn't between Bitcoin and Ethereum, or Bitcoin and XRP, or Bitcoin and Solana. The battle is between Bitcoin and the fiat system. The battle is between a decentralized, scarce, incorruptible currency and an inflationary, central bank-controlled, politically manipulated monetary system. That's where the future lies. Altcoins aren't enemies; they're distractions. They divert attention, they drain energy, and they maintain the illusion of multiple choices. But at the end of the day, the only real alternative to fiat is Bitcoin.
A hundred years from now, no one will remember the price of Solana in 2025, nor Ripple's lawsuits, nor Ethereum's updates. But we will remember that Bitcoin continued, block after block, to issue its scheduled reward, to maintain its network without interruption, to offer a store of value in an increasingly unstable world. We will remember that it was the asset that weathered crises, bubbles, and media attacks, and that remained standing while everything else collapsed.
Bitcoin doesn't need to promise the moon. It doesn't need to change its rules to be attractive. It doesn't need to constantly innovate to justify its existence. Its sheer continuity is its greatest strength. Where altcoins struggle to stay relevant, Bitcoin stands out through its consistency. And it's precisely this consistency that makes it unassailable.
So no, neither XRP, nor Solana, nor Ethereum are threats to Bitcoin. They are passing bubbles, peripheral experiments, more or less skillful financial products. But they don't share the same mission. They don't address the heart of the problem. They don't seek to free individuals from the yoke of central banks. They are not a sovereign currency, just speculative assets.
The real revolution isn't in speed, smart contracts, or banking partnerships. It's in the ability, for the first time in history, to own a currency that's completely beyond the control of the powerful. A currency that no one can devalue, censor, or confiscate. And that currency is Bitcoin.
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