During President Donald Trump's first term in office, it was not uncommon to hear him speak about the stock market during press interviews. In a way, this isn't entirely surprising given his history as a real estate developer. Since he was sworn in again last week, Trump has frequently spoken about other market-related items such as interest rates and tariffs.
However, the president appears to have formed an interest in another area of the market outside of its traditional dynamics: cryptocurrency.
Below, I examine two popular cryptocurrencies and make the case for which one I see as the better buy during Trump's next four years in the Oval Office.
Ripple is a payments network that serves as an alternative to legacy solutions such as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) protocol. The main benefits of using Ripple's infrastructure are faster payment settlement times and lower fees compared to mainstream providers. XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) is a cryptocurrency that trades on the Ripple network, offering banks and corporations a creative way to send funds back and forth while circumventing hefty foreign exchange fees.
As of this writing (Jan. 27), XRP's price is about $3. Cheap, right? Well, as I've written before, a lower dollar amount does not always equate to a reasonably priced asset.
In the chart above, you can see that XRP was trading below $1 for most of last year. But then in November, the cryptocurrency skyrocketed and it now boasts a market capitalization of $171 billion.
The primary catalyst that fueled XRP's surge was Trump's reelection. During his time on the campaign trail, Trump frequently touted pro-crypto rhetoric -- especially from a regulatory standpoint.
Moreover, Trump's nomination of Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is also viewed as a major positive for XRP. The reason is that Ripple has spent the last several years in a legal whirlwind with the SEC, which alleges the company is selling XRP as an unregistered security. Given Atkins' support of the crypto landscape, some speculate that his leadership at the SEC (should he be confirmed) could put an end to Ripple's lawsuit and pave the way for a brighter future for XRP.
Shortly after his inauguration, Trump stepped into the Oval Office to sign piles of executive orders. Among them was an order to "promote United States leadership in digital assets and financial technology."