Bitcoin is already strong. Even more so than Ripple. While that's the case, we shouldn't underestimate the power of whales and "Wall Street". Most investors don't care about decentralization these days, so they will pour money on any coin as long as it's able to make them lots of money in the long run.
I believe everyone knows that bitcoin is the best and most trusted currency in the market but unfortunately, it is not what they want. What they want is profit, profit and get rich quick with small capital, that's why they ignore bitcoin and invest in altcoin even though they understand bitcoin very well.
At the time of this writing, XRP has many fans. It might reach new ATHs if momentum continues to increase. There are now talks of adding smart contracts into the XRP Ledger (CTO David Schwarz said so), so you can see where this is heading to. Centralized "shitcoins" will continue to take the spotlight, while truly-decentralized coins are left behind in the dust (except Bitcoin). Many things can happen in the future. Better be prepared for the worse, just in case.
After the lawsuit between them and the SEC ended, they became stronger than ever and whether we like it or not, the truth is that XRP is becoming a giant of the crypto industry. They are growing by connecting with governments, banks...and I wouldn't be surprised to see an XRP ETF launch this year or hit new ATHs.