vs
XRP vs Solana for Payments
| Feature | XRP | Solana |
|---|---|---|
| Ledger or slot time | About 3 to 5 seconds per ledger | About 400 ms per slot |
| Base fee | 10 drops (0.00001 XRP), burned | 5,000 lamports (0.000005 SOL) per signature |
| Consensus | XRP Ledger consensus among validators | Proof of stake plus Proof of History |
| Built in features | Native DEX, escrow, payment paths | General smart contracts, many stablecoins |
| Legal history | SEC case 2020 to 2025 | No SEC case against Solana itself in our timeline |
| Network halts | Rare; ledger kept closing | Several full outages 2021 to 2024 |
| Latest close in our data | $1.36 Bitstamp XRP/USD daily close, 2026-10-14 | $105.30 Coinbase Exchange SOL/USD daily close, 2026-10-14 |
The trade-offs
Both networks were built to be fast and cheap, and both can move value for well under a cent. XRP was designed specifically for payments, with features like built in currency exchange and payment paths, and Ripple has marketed it to banks and payment providers. Solana is a general purpose chain where payments run mainly through stablecoins like USDC.
Trade-offs: XRP carries the long SEC legal history, now resolved, and its validator set is smaller and more curated. Solana is faster per block and has a larger app ecosystem but has had several full outages. Fees are set in each coin, so the dollar cost changes with price.
Neither column is a recommendation. Each network makes different choices, and the history pages show how those choices played out.
Source: Bitstamp XRP/USD daily closes 2016-12-16 to 2026-10-14. Fetched Oct 14, 2026 from free public APIs. Click a dot for the event and its price on that day.
Source: Binance SOL/USDT daily closes 2020-08-11 to 2021-06-16; Coinbase Exchange SOL/USD daily closes 2021-06-17 to 2026-10-14. Fetched Oct 14, 2026 from free public APIs. Click a dot for the event and its price on that day.
Related events and hubs
Updated
Sources
Facts written in our own words. Last checked Oct 14, 2026.