The recent performance of the freshly launched XRP ETF in the U.S. has given industry leaders more reason to believe XRP could overtake Ethereum, even within this year.

John Deaton, a pro-crypto lawyer and former U.S. Senate candidate, recently shared this perspective in a tweet. Specifically, he argued that XRP could dethrone Ethereum to become the altcoin market leader by the end of this year.

Deaton expressed this conviction after the inaugural XRP ETF in the U.S. recorded an impressive first-day volume of $5.43 million. This substantial turnover came despite the widespread bearish sentiment in the market, with crashing prices in the spot market and liquidations in the derivative market.

XRP ETF’s Remarkable First Day Feat

Notably, the ETF is sponsored by asset manager Teucrium and is a 2x leveraged ETF tracking the performance of XRP. It saw its first trading day on Tuesday, April 8, and closed with a turnover of over $5 million. This came despite XRP’s price dipping again to $1.74 after a brief attempt at the $2 level earlier in the day.

The significance of the ETF’s trading volume becomes even more apparent when considering that it was around four times the value of Solana’s 2x ETF debut.

In his remark, Deaton noted that despite the crypto industry’s widespread negativity toward XRP, he has consistently maintained that XRP holds more appeal than many industry players are willing to acknowledge.

He further strengthened his argument by pointing to the 75,000 XRP holders who united to petition the court in the Ripple case, calling it “extraordinary.” He concluded by reiterating his prediction that XRP will surpass Ethereum and that this will happen by the end of the year.

Despite all the negative sentiment from people within the crypto industry, I’ve always maintained that XRP has much more appeal than industry players want to admit. Just think, 75K XRP holders joined together to petition the Court in the Ripple case – extraordinary. IMO, XRP… https://t.co/ZPL8CKDrYR

— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) April 9, 2025

XRP’s Potential to Flip Ethereum

Despite its position as the largest altcoin, Ethereum has been struggling with bearish sentiment. Since the start of the year, its value has dropped by 55%. In perspective, this means Ethereum has lost $224 billion in market cap since January, with the current value standing at $178 billion and a unit price of $1,479.

Meanwhile, XRP currently has a market cap of $106.51 billion. This reflects a dip of only 12.14% since the start of the year, with the coin trading at $1.82. At one point earlier this year, XRP had a market cap of $196 billion.

XRP’s resilience in the bearish market and its potential for an impressive move during a bull comeback have continued to fuel speculation that it could once again become the second-largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin.

At the moment, XRP could overtake Ethereum should its price rebound to $3, especially if Ethereum fails to experience a comparable level of growth.