[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong] David Schwartz (데이비드 슈워츠), former chief technology officer of Ripple, drew attention by mentioning the possibility that XRP could overtake Bitcoin (BTC) in market capitalisation over the long term.

On Sept. 9 (local time), blockchain outlet U.Today reported that Schwartz recently appeared on X's Spaces and said an XRP "flippening" was possible. The term generally refers in crypto markets to a change in which asset holds the No. 1 spot by market value.

He made clear there was a premise. Schwartz saw the scenario as more likely to emerge through a sharp rise in XRP than a steep drop in Bitcoin. He said XRP could take a larger share of market growth based on faster transaction speeds and broader functionality than Bitcoin.

Schwartz explained that the XRP Ledger (XRPL) structure itself was designed from the start as a faster, more scalable alternative for payments. That is why, as the overall market expands, XRP could take a relatively larger portion, he said.

Schwartz also pointed out that the market-cap debate ultimately comes down to timing and perspective. Looking back to earlier this year, he said that when XRP traded at about $0.006, it was hard to believe it could rise to $0.25. He also said that at the time he sold some XRP because its value already looked excessively high even near $0.10.

He cited a similar example for Bitcoin. Schwartz recalled that at one point even $100 bitcoin felt almost absurd. But he drew a line, saying the comparison had a weakness. That is because XRP's current market capitalisation is much larger than when Bitcoin first rose above $100. He effectively acknowledged that a simple price comparison makes it hard to expect the same path of gains.

There is also precedent for XRP sharply narrowing the gap with Bitcoin. In the major crypto bull market from late 2017 to early 2018, XRP rose to No. 2 by market value and emerged as the main contender closest to Bitcoin. XRP has also overtaken Ethereum. The most notable point was late December 2017, when XRP's market capitalisation swelled to about $86 billion, topping Ethereum's $73 billion, and it held the No. 2 spot through year-end.

Current figures show a different gap from then. XRP, at $1.42, has a market capitalisation of about $89.1 billion, ranking fifth among cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin trades at about $78,693, with market value at about $1.58 trillion. By current measures, Bitcoin is worth about 17.7 times XRP by market capitalisation.

As a result, Schwartz's remarks appear to place more weight on long-term possibility than a near-term reversal. The core point of his comments remains that for XRP to surpass Bitcoin, XRP's growth pace would have to be much steeper than any weakness in Bitcoin.