While $XRP has staged a strong recovery over the past week, its performance relative to Bitcoin ($BTC) has recently come into question.

The coin surged from below $1 to as high as $1.70 before retracing to around $1.43. Despite the rally, a long-term comparison with Bitcoin shows just how much $XRP has lagged the largest cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin commentator Adam Livingston highlighted the contrast in a post on X. He noted that $XRP is now trading around $1.43, compared with $3.02 on January 6, 2018.

That means $XRP remains well below its price from more than eight years ago, despite the growth of the crypto market.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin has delivered a dramatically different performance. Livingston noted that $BTC has climbed from around $17,000 on January 6, 2018, to approximately $78,401. That represents a 361% increase over the same period.

“Everything goes to zero against Bitcoin,” Livingston wrote, adding that the $XRP/$BTC pair is down 88.2%.

$XRP Surges More Than 70% Before Retracing

The long-term comparison comes as $XRP has experienced a dramatic move over the past week.

$XRP traded at $0.978 last week before climbing to approximately $1.70, representing a gain of more than 72%. After the rally, the token has pulled back to around $1.43 but remains up roughly 43% over the past seven days.

Bitcoin has also rallied during the same period, moving from roughly $62,000 to as high as $81,000. $BTC remains up around 22% over the past week.

The different performances have renewed debate in the crypto community.

‘Opportunity Cost’

X user Alexander Mason Alden argued that the comparison illustrates opportunity cost in crypto markets. Alden said $XRP doesn’t need to fall to zero to underperform; it only needs $BTC to compound faster for long enough.

Bitcoin commentator @Micro2Macr0 took a much harsher view, criticizing $XRP and its connection to Ripple’s business model and calling it a scam.

$XRP Remains a Major Trading Opportunity for Some

However, not all Bitcoin commentators are bearish on $XRP. Davinci Jeremie, a longtime Bitcoin commentator and $XRP critic, has previously made bullish price predictions for $XRP.

In January 2025, when $XRP was trading around $3.13, Jeremie predicted that the token could reach between $20 and $24 during the cycle.

However, Jeremie has also distinguished between $XRP as a trading opportunity and $XRP as a long-term investment. He remains critical of the token’s links to the banking and financial system and argues that these characteristics make $XRP less attractive as a long-term holding.

The contrasting views underline the divide surrounding $XRP. The token has delivered a powerful short-term rally, but its longer-term performance against Bitcoin remains significantly weaker.

While the latest surge shows that $XRP could still make strong gains, those gains may look much smaller when compared with Bitcoin.