XRP is one of the oldest cryptocurrencies, founded in 2012, three years after the launch of Bitcoin. The XRP token serves as a payment and settlement currency on the XRP Ledger blockchain, and is now used by global payment service provider Ripple. Over the years, XRP has developed a loyal following in the crypto community, but is XRP a good investment today?
In this guide, we'll explore the XRP ecosystem, the regulatory landscape, and how XRP is used in real-world financial transactions. If you're wondering, "Should I buy XRP?" it's important to take a balanced view and weigh the pros and cons. Let's take a look at the future of this cryptocurrency.
How has XRP performed as an investment?
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When XRP was launched in August 2012, the token’s price was $0.01. By early 2018, XRP reached an all-time high of $3.84. However, the high would not last. After the bidding frenzy, XRP fell, trading between $0.20 and $0.60 for most of 2019 and 2020.
The return of the cryptocurrency bull run in 2021 has sent XRP soaring again, although it has never reached its previous highs, peaking just below $2/XRP. During XRP's decline, the fight for $1 became a meme in the cryptocurrency community. However, the earliest investors performed well, with gains as high as 1,900% and as high as 38,300%.
Looking at recent history, despite XRP being in the top 10 by market cap, it has not performed as well as other leading cryptocurrencies. The 12-month price history shows Bitcoin up 149%, while XRP is down 35%.
XRP Price History Timeline
Similar to other cryptocurrencies, XRP has experienced parabolic growth but has fallen sharply from its peak. However, XRP’s all-time high was in 2018, not 2021, as were the other top 10 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Cardano.
1. 2014: XRP starts at $0.01. XRP subsequently falls below this price, dropping to $0.006396 in 2017. Prices remain relatively stable until the second half of 2017, although the volatility is too small for traders to see on the chart.
2. 2017: March 2017 marked the beginning of XRP’s first major rally. By May 2017, XRP peaked at $0.45, up nearly 4,000% in less than three months.
3. 2018: Starting from the rising market in May, after a brief cooling, XRP began to parabola and reached a historical high of $3.84.4
4. 2020: XRP Stock Price Bottomed in the 10-Cent Range as Stock Price Rise
5. 2021: The 2021 cryptocurrency bull run brought new buying pressure. XRP once rose to $2.
6. 2024: XRP falls in the bear market of 2022 and 2023. It starts to rise again in mid-2023.
Generally speaking, XRP's price action follows the movements of the broader cryptocurrency market, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, XRP has not always enjoyed the same level of prosperity. During the 2021 bull run, XRP faced legal challenges. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed charges against Ripple in December 2020, questioning the XRP token used by Ripple.
XRP Price Prediction
Is XRP a Good Investment? Analysis by CryptoNews gives an XRP price prediction of as high as $0.91 by the end of 2024, which is an 80% increase from XRP’s current 50 cent range.
Price Prediction 2024
Our month-by-month forecast shows that there is little risk of a price decline from the current level. However, growth is likely to be slow. Meaningful price appreciation for XRP may not begin until June 2024. Prices may begin to slowly rise over the next few months to reach the expected year-end range of $0.662 - $0.914. Our XRP price prediction calls for an average price of $0.823 by the end of 2024.
Price forecast for 2025
The price of XRP could become even more interesting by 2025. At the low end of our forecast, XRP could reach $1.82. At the high end, XRP could reach its 2021 high, climbing to $2.11. We expect an average price of $1.95 by the end of 2025, with prices climbing throughout the year during the expected bull run.
Price prediction for 2030
Long-term investors may see more substantial gains. While the low end of the 2030 forecast parallels the 2025 forecast, the high end could see XRP convincingly pass the $3.00 mark. Optimistically, XRP’s price could reach the high end of $3.60 in 2030, close to its 2018 all-time high. At the lower range, we see a price forecast of $1.87, with an average price of $2.67 by 2030.
In the short term, Ripple’s ongoing litigation battle with the SEC is expected to keep prices constrained despite the creation of new markets. As the cryptocurrency market gains clarity on the direction of the court case, XRP’s price could rise without the headwinds it is currently facing. Additionally, many industry insiders expect the crypto market to surge in 2025, driven by the 2024 Bitcoin halving and increased adoption.
Is XRP a good long-term investment?
The XRP Ledger (XRPL) exists independently of Ripple Labs. However, because Ripple is so closely intertwined with XRP, it is essential to consider its role when weighing an XRP investment. XRPL gives 80% of the XRP supply to Ripple, with 55% of the supply locked in a covenant. The escrow allows for the release of up to 1 billion tokens per month, representing 1% of the total XRP supply of 100 billion. The move is intended to stabilize prices.
While the circulating supply of XRP can increase as Ripple releases its holdings (1 billion XRP represents a cap), XRP is also burned in transactions. To date, about 12 million XRP have been burned, meaning those tokens will never be in circulation again.
According to Ripple’s Q1 2024 Market Report, average transaction costs fell by 44%, while the number of transactions increased by 100%, quarter-over-quarter. The amount of XRP burned in transactions also increased, doubling to 636,000 since Q1 2023.
Strong and experienced leadership
The story of XRP began in 2011 when Jed McCaleb, David Schwartz, and Arthur Britto began developing the XRP Ledger with XRP as the native token. By 2012, the network went live. The project initially had similar goals to Bitcoin, enabling fast transactions around the world.
The original open-source project was named Ripple, the same name as Ripple Labs, the company that emerged around the XRP Ledger. Ripple was originally named OpenCoin before changing its name in 2013. XRP’s Jed McCaleb and Chris Larsen founded the company in 2012.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse is the driving force behind Ripple's growth and he frequently appears on financial broadcasts to promote XRP and the XRPL-based Ripple network to investors. David Schwartz, the creator of XRP and an industry icon, is the company's chief technology officer. Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen still serves on the board of directors.
While XRPL and Ripple are different entities, the deep connection between them remains, with some of the crypto industry’s early pioneers helping guide Ripple and XRP forward.
What does the future hold for XRP?
The future of XRP depends on greater adoption. While Ripple is working to build new relationships with major financial institutions, service providers, and governments, the ongoing lawsuit casts a shadow over markets such as the United States.
The XRP Ledger’s ability to host additional compliant tokens and function decentralized exchanges bodes well for the growth of use cases for XRP and XRPL. Just as Ether (ETH) powers the transfer of NFTs and tokens on the Ethereum blockchain, XRP powers transactions on the XRPL. New applications, such as real-world crypto assets, can be driven on top of a well-connected blockchain like the XRPL. The global network of financial institutions that have already partnered with Ripple offers a wealth of opportunities to use XRP and XRPL in new ways.
Experts Say Should You Buy XRP
Is XRP worth buying? The industry still holds different views on XRP and its role in the digital asset field. On the one hand, the deep link with Ripple gives XRP better brand awareness than most cryptocurrencies. On the other hand, the current legal dispute involving Ripple and US regulators has created short-term uncertainty and may depress prices in the short term.
Many of XRP’s early price predictions were far from reality, which shows how difficult it is to predict digital asset prices in a rapidly changing market. In the end, the market decides. Binance’s user survey shows that the market believes that XRP’s future price will remain largely unchanged during 2024 and 2025. By 2030, respondents believe the coin will trade at $0.70.
However, other analysts believe the potential market price is much higher.
AMBCrypto believes that XRP could reach $1.26 by the end of 2024. Longer-term forecasts see the coin’s price reaching as high as $80 by 2030. However, this would imply a market cap of $8 trillion. To put this in context, BTC’s fully diluted market cap is just over $1.4 trillion.
Changelly’s team predicts that XRP could reach $0.79 in 2024, with a high target of $7.54 in 2030.
It is worth noting that Ripple’s payment system does not depend on the price of XRP. Whether XRP is $0.50 or $50, payments are settled almost instantly in the local currency.
Final Conclusion
XRP’s loyal following and deep connections with Ripple’s global partners have helped XRP stay in the news and near the top of the cryptocurrency charts in terms of market cap. Fixed-supply tokens are inherently deflationary due to burning fees, which presents an attractive investment opportunity for those worried about inflationary tokens. However, it’s also important to measure previous performance and the legal challenges facing Ripple. If Ripple prevails, XRP will be able to rally. Otherwise, the price could suffer.
