XRP has been performing well lately to say the least, but it is still not clear to the wider audience what it actually competes with and what it does not. After fresh confusion sparked talk of Circle being a threat to XRP, crypto lawyer John Deaton shut the whole thing down.

The drama began when Barstool’s Dave Portnoy revealed that he had sold his XRP based on the advice that Circle, the company behind USDC, was going to compete with XRP. This turned out to be an expensive decision; XRP has increased by over 38% in the past two weeks, making it the top performer in the large-cap category.

Deaton's response was clear - XRP does not compete with Circle. Ripple does. Even then, Ripple is not using XRP to go after Circle - it is doing that with its new stablecoin, RLUSD. The roles are not interchangeable, and mixing them up leads to misinformation and, apparently, poor trading decisions.

Deaton also pointed out that Ripple and Circle operate on the same layer; both are fintech companies that build infrastructure. XRP, on the other hand, is simply the digital asset that powers the XRP Ledger. It is not trying to be USDC, nor is it in the stablecoin race.

Deaton added more weight to this by reminding everyone that Ripple was once rumored to be eyeing a Circle acquisition. Therefore, the relationship has more history than rivalry.

With XRP moving forward and Ripple introducing RLUSD as its entry into the stablecoin market, the competitive landscape is quite clear. One is a token; the other is a company. In crypto, confusing the two can be costly.