Cardano and IOTA, two of the best-known players in the crypto industry, have underperformed the market over time as they evolved into ghost chains. A ghost chain is a blockchain whose coin is popular, but one that lacks a supportive ecosystem. 

Cardano and IOTA are ghost chains

Cardano is a layer-1 blockchain that became popular in 2021 as a good alternative to Ethereum, which was a proof-of-work network at the time. Its popularity was partly because it was promoted as a peer-reviewed chain that would become a disruptive force in the industry.

Years later, Cardano has no major developers working in its blockchain. For example, there are no popular decentralized exchanges (DEXes) and lending protocols. It has a total value locked (TVL) of less than $350 million. In contrast, newer blockchain networks like Base and Sui have attracted over $1 billion in assets. 

IOTA, on the other hand, became popular for its insistence that it was not a blockchain network. Instead, it is a distributed ledger technology that uses a technology known as tangle. 

IOTA launched Shimmer, its EVM-enabled blockchain network in 2023 with a lot of hype. Many months later, it has also not attracted major developers. 

Therefore, many investors have abandoned ADA and IOTA as their prices have continued to underperform the market. Cardano price has crashed by 60% from its highest level this year, while IOTA has plunged by 75%.

Traders flock to Vantard

At the same time, traders are flocking to Vantard, an upcoming meme coin fund token that is in its presale stage.

Data on its website shows that the developers have now raised $808,240 tokens in less than three weeks. This trend makes it one of the best performing token sales this year. 

The idea of a meme coin index fund is inspired by Vanguard’s success. For over three decades, Vanguard has become a financial juggernaut with over $8 trillion in assets. Most of these funds are made up of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that track either stocks or bonds.

Vantard hopes to create a fund made up of the top-performing meme coins in the industry. It is based on the view that meme coins do better than other traditional cryptocurrencies, especially during bull markets.

Some of the most notable performers were cryptocurrencies like Popcat, MICHI, Fwog, Gigachad, and Moo Deng. 

Vantard’s performance will also be influenced by the ongoing interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Analysts expect the Fed to slash interest rates by 0.25% on Wednesday this week. It will also hint that it will deliver more cuts in the coming meetingss.

Bitcoin and meme coins like Vantard thrive when the Fed is cutting rates. You can learn more about Vantard and buy the VTARD token here.

Ripple’s (XRP) market cap rose but could soon lose its stop to Dogecoin (DOGE) if both cryptocurrencies continue to keep up with the recent performances. Over the last 24 hours, XRP’s price has increased by 5.20%, while DOGE jumped by 22%.

Should this trend persist, DOGE’s rapid growth rate could enable it to close the gap in market cap between the two cryptocurrencies. The outcome also hinges on whether XRP can sustain or accelerate its gains. 

Ripple Low Activity Puts Its Position At Risk

XRP’s market cap rose to $30.63 billion and remains the seventh most valuable cryptocurrency. Dogecoin, on the other hand, is eighth in the standings, with a value of $30.26 billion. For context, the market cap is the product of price and circulating supply.

Therefore, since both DOGE and XRP have all their total supply in circulation, their respective prices determine the market cap growth. Therefore, if XRP’s price continues to lag behind DOGE’s fast-paced movement, it could drop behind the meme coin.

Notably, XRP’s price increase could be linked to the broader market recovery. But for DOGE, its growth hinges on rising market interest and Elon Musk’s consistent support for Donald Trump with the several posts of the Department Of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E).

Read more: How to Buy XRP and Everything You Need to Know

With Donald Trump anticipated to be declared president, Dogecoin will likely continue its rally, leveraging the boost in sentiment driven by his known favorable stance toward cryptocurrencies. This potential surge in DOGE could put additional pressure on XRP, causing it to lag behind.

Another metric suggesting that XRP could fall behind DOGE is the Mean Dollar Invested Age (MDIA). The MDIA is the average age of all tokens on a blockchain weighted by the purchase price.

When the metric falls, most tokens are no longer dormant, and the price can increase. But in this case, the metric is rising, suggesting low trading activity and making it difficult for the price to increase.

XRP Price Analysis: Altcoin Overbought

A look at the 4-hour chart shows that the Bollinger Bands (BB) is expanding, indicating high volatility around the cryptocurrency. However, the upper band hand of the indicator has also touched XRP’s price at $0.54.

When the upper band of the BB hits the price, it means that the asset is overbought. Assuming the lower band did, then the assets would have been deemed oversold. Since it is the former, it means that XRP’s price might possibly retrace to $0.51.

Read more: Ripple (XRP) Price Prediction 2024/2025/2030

If this happens, then XRP’s market cap could fall behind DOGE if the latter’s price increases. On the other hand, a break above the $0.55 resistance could invalidate this forecast.  In that scenario, the altcoin could jump toward $0.60.