$56B Blunder: Ripple Insider Exposes How Choosing Bitcoin Over XRP Cost Investors Billions
The crypto world just got a brutal reality check—and XRP holders are screaming 'I told you so.' A Ripple insider dropped a bombshell calculation: favoring Bitcoin over XRP wiped out a staggering $56 billion in potential gains. Ouch.
### The $56B 'What If' That Keeps Maxis Up at Night
Forget moonshots—this is a black hole of missed opportunity. While Bitcoiners were busy HODLing through 30% dips, XRP's rails were moving real-world money at institutional scale. But hey, who needs efficiency when you've got meme magic?
### The Institutional Irony
Banks and payment providers quietly built the plumbing for the next financial system—using XRP's ledger. Meanwhile, crypto bros were too busy arguing about laser eyes on Twitter to notice. Classic.
### A Cynic's Footnote
Of course, this all assumes anyone in crypto actually cares about utility over hype. Spoiler: they don't. See you at the next Bitcoin halving party—bring your own hopium.
MicroStrategy bitcoin vs XRP Portfolio Comparison | Matt Hamilton
Strategy's Bitcoin Journey
For context, Strategy began its Bitcoin journey on August 11, 2020, buying 21,454 BTC for $250 million at an average price of $11,653 per coin. This move made the company the first publicly listed firm to adopt Bitcoin as its treasury reserve asset. From there, it kept adding to its stash in increasingly larger amounts.
Some of its largest purchases came up in December 2020, when it added 29,646 BTC at a cost of about $650 million. In February 2021, it followed up with another major buy of 19,452 BTC worth around $1.026 billion. Later that year, in June, it bought 13,005 BTC for $489 million, averaging $37,617 per coin.
The company continued its buying spree into 2024 and 2025. Between Nov. 1 and 10, 2024, it acquired 27,200 BTC for $2.03 billion at an average price of $74,632. Then in February 2025, it picked up 20,356 BTC for $1.9 billion, with Bitcoin averaging $97,514 at the time.
Meanwhile, the most aggressive stretch came between Q4 2024 and Q1 2025, when it scooped up 218,887 BTC in a $20.5 billion push, nearly halfway to its $42 billion capital raising goal. Its most recent move happened between July 7 and 13, 2025, when it added 4,225 BTC for $472.5 million, paying an average of $111,827 per coin.
Today, MicroStrategy holds 601,550 BTC bought at an average price of $71,268 each. Altogether, it spent $42.87 billion on its Bitcoin portfolio. With the current value at $72.2 billion, the company has built an unrealized gain of around $29.4 billion.
XRP Treasury Gaining Momentum
However, Hamilton's XRP analysis shows that Strategy could have done far better. When asked, he pointed out that the numbers didn't even account for the market impact of MicroStrategy's real-life Bitcoin buys. In reality, if the company had gone all-in on XRP, the added exposure and public attention could have boosted XRP's price even more.
https://twitter.com/HammerToe/status/1946404334662496698
Interestingly, XRP is already gaining attention as a treasury asset, as several firms look to replicate Strategy's playbook with the altcoin. Most recently, Everything Blockchain revealed plans to amass $10 million in XRP, joining the likes of Trident, Webus International, VivoPower, and a host of others.
