XRP at $2.16 is still a leading altcoin to buy for the payments trade, but in January 2026, the market is increasingly rewarding the apps that onboard new retail users, not the projects that are only going after institutions.
Payments remain the hottest narrative in crypto because the stablecoin supply is booming, and the next wave of adoption will come from better money products. Digital-first apps are leading this charge, and that’s why the Digitap ($TAP) crypto presale has ripped past $4.1 million in funding.
It is a clear signal that the market is already choosing applications over infrastructure. All of the best cryptos to buy now are the ones that feel like fintech products. Easy to use and familiar interfaces, better outcomes, and most importantly, a token that captures value as usage scales.
Here’s why Digitap is beating XRP in the payments race this January.
XRP: The institutional payments trade
XRP has one of the strongest legacies in crypto for a good reason. It was built to modernize cross-border payments. Since 2012, the whole aim has been to move value anywhere in the world with minimal friction.
While this is normal for crypto-native users sending stablecoins, in TradFi, legacy rails remain slow and expensive, with transfers taking multiple business days. This pain point alone is why XRP has a $130 billion market cap. And when banking narratives heat up, XRP is still normally the first crypto to move.
The chart shows signs of life, but bulls are battling a firmly entrenched bearish trend. The recent pump was aggressively sold off, and the biggest headwind is that this year, the payments race is shifting from institutional rails to consumer adoption and stablecoin distribution.
Until XRP flips $2.32, the dominant trend is bearish, and investors should expect any pumps to get sold into.
Digitap crypto presale: Changing the payments race
Ripple went after institutions first. Digitap went after users first. Payments is a grassroots business. Remittances, freelancer payouts, family transfers, and cross-border spending. Almost all of these flows are driven by everyday behavior.
Digitap positions itself as the world’s first omni-bank, blurring the line between fiat and crypto. The app, downloadable today, has a modern banking interface, and stablecoins and blockchains do the heavy lifting in the background.
Adoption in 2026 is all about making the crypto rails become invisible. Users do not want to think about rails. They want money to arrive fast and efficiently. Digitap’s multi-rail settlement allows transfers to route across the most efficient path available. They could be traditional banking rails powered by Digitap’s banking partners, or blockchain rails if the transfer is moving across borders.
This plumbing upgrade attacks the real bottleneck in global payments: friction. This is why the Digitap crypto presale has become one of the fastest-growing consumer payment applications this year. It allows money to start moving like it should in the 21st century.
Next-gen tokenomics: Why $TAP ranks as a leading altcoin to buy in 2026
Governance tokens are being left in 2021, and in this cycle, if the token doesn’t capture value, investors are not interested. All this cycle’s most successful tokens have shared revenue with holders, with HYPE being the best example, with an enormous token burn campaign.
$TAP ranks among the best cryptos to buy now because Digitap uses 50% of platform profits to buy $TAP on the open market. These tokens are then split between burns and staking rewards. This means that as Digitap scales and onboards new users, token holders participate in the upside.
The market clearly likes what it sees, explaining how $TAP has raised more than $4.1 million since opening its presale. $TAP is available for $0.0427 today but is scheduled to rise to $0.0439 in less than a week. And with a confirmed listing price of $0.14, there is plenty of upside baked in for investors purchasing today.
How XRP lost the payments race to $TAP in January 2026
XRP is losing the payments race because the game has evolved. Stablecoins are winning the payments corridor race, and digital-first applications are winning the adoption race. Both these shifts make a token that aims at institutional adoption look massively overvalued.
Digitap already has a live product, clear adoption, and tokenomics designed to reward holders as the platform scales. XRP can still run to $2.50 and beyond if crypto starts ripping again. But the potential upside difference between XRP and $TAP is enormous.
Still available at crypto presale pricing, $TAP could easily become one of the fastest-growing finance apps later this year. As the stablecoin era of banking begins, $TAP is already a clear frontrunner. And investors can join this exciting journey today while earning 124% staking rewards reserved only for presale participants.
Digitap is Live NOW. Learn more about their project here:
Presale https://presale.digitap.app
Website: https://digitap.app
Social: https://linktr.ee/digitap.app
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Disclaimer: This is a paid post and should not be treated as news/advice.
Source: https://ambcrypto.com/ripple-vs-digitap-tap-how-2-16-xrp-lost-the-payments-race-to-tap-this-january/
