By now, cryptocurrencies acquired an army of investors and true believers. It is worthy of note that regardless of the market conditions, the top 3 cryptocurrencies remain the unchangeable leaders. What makes Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP so valuable?

Bitcoin

Created in 2009, Bitcoin is the first peer-to-peer digital currency, which the world has ever seen. Being a father of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin has the first-mover advantage, it can’t lose. Regardless of 2,000 altcoins available on the market, investors do not stop to purchase Bitcoin, keeping it at the top of the list.

Why Bitcoin is so much-in-demand?

  • Low supply. There are only 21 million bitcoins that will ever exist in total, and 17,8 million have already been mined. Due to the human factor, people lose access to the crypto wallets reducing the amount of bitcoin in circulation. About 4 million coins are more likely to be lost forever. Demand will increase to own at least a fraction of bitcoin pushing the value up and the maximum supply will more likely decrease.
  • High usability and industry standard. Bitcoin is available and commercially adopted pretty much everywhere in the world. Bitcoin ATMs, retailers, and various businesses accepting bitcoin as a payment amount more than 15 thousand venues as of today that is 1,000% rise in comparison with 1,270 venues in December 2013. By industry standard, it is entailed the fact that any crypto-related project, app, or business will first start working with/accepting bitcoin and only then add other altcoins.
  • Ability to profit on the hot investment. Let’s keep it real, cryptocurrencies are volatile and by buying/selling them at the right moment investors can capitalize greatly on it. Why bitcoin? With the dominance of 66.2%, Bitcoin is a settler of crypto market direction. So why bet on altcoins if Bitcoin is 100% win.

Ethereum

Ethereum’s road was rough throughout 2018 having lost 85% of its value. Despite this fact and despite the competition from other smart-contract based altcoins like NEO and EOS, Ethereum remains the second-largest cryptocurrency.

  • Father of smart contracts. Ethereum is a major blockchain for smart contracts, DApps, and more than 80% of ICOs developed on its blockchain. Enterprise Ethereum Alliance has made partnerships with big-name companies like Microsoft, JP Morgan, Intel, and others, which are looking for Ethereum blockchain incorporation into their business structures. With such strong support, it’s unlikely for Ethereum to lose its leading position in a short-term horizon.
  • Key updates of Ethereum technology. One of the most significant Ethereum hard forks called Constantinople has already happened in February 2019 though with a delay improved functionality, speed, transaction costs, miner issues of the network. According to its roadmap, instead of one large update, there will be a series of updates aiming to make Ethereum more scalable, efficient, and faster scheduled for 2019 and the years to come.

XRP

XRP rounds out the top 3 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. XRP is one of the cheapest and fastest coins available today. Despite accusations from cryptocurrency enthusiast concerning its centralized character, XRP entrenches oneself in the top and has never claimed to be decentralized one.

Why is XRP at the forefront?

1,500 transactions per second is an impressive result, especially in comparison with the scalability of other cryptocurrencies or even with common money transfer systems, used by the banks. Upon that the cost of the instant transaction regardless of destination point is over 50% cut down. Initially, Ripple was focused on financial institutions and banks with prospects to become the major payment system. Therefore, not cryptocurrencies, but dominated transfer systems like SWIFT and VISA are its main rivals. Working on the improving transaction speed, the XRP development team reached the unparalleled scalability of 50,000 transactions per second outperforming VISA capacity twofold.

Multiple banks and credit card companies are already collaborating with Ripple, hundreds of other bank institutions are looking for a partnership with it. Backed by the financial sector and constant increase of the user number, XRP will strengthen the position in the crypto market.