Ripple and XRP communities are some of the most active in the crypto space, although they are currently a shadow of their former glory due to Ripple Labs’ current legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), one of the worst opponents any crypto company could have.
When all things considered, can its currency, XRP, reach $100? And if so, how high can it go?
The short answer is YES, XRP can reach $100. And it can go as high as $870.
But wait! There is a catch. It’s not what you think. In a scenario where the XRP market cap goes higher than a trillion dollars, it’s likely that the dollar will be overly devalued. This means, that $100 and $870 may not be worth as much as you think.
If we were to predict the coin’s price in USD, we also need to estimate its future value. Otherwise, there is no point. Also, XRP is quite a controversial cryptocurrency and is considered a wild card in the crypto industry. This adds even more variables to the equation making it quite difficult to predict.
It could become the best there is or die horribly like a mad dog.
XRP Supply
In order to determine how high XRP can go, we need to know the supply. Right now, roughly over 48.11 billion coins are in circulation while over 46 billion are locked in escrow.
The XRPs in escrow will be gradually released over unspecified periods of time. Basically, one billion will be released each month, but the excess will be put into another account and put back into escrow.
Note that the 1 billion XRP will be sold by Ripple Labs to fund expenditures, but not on the public market (exchanges like Binance) since that would put downward pressure on the asset’s price. Instead, the Ripple company would sell the XRP through over-the-counter (OTC) trading or some other means that don’t significantly move the market.
IMPORTANT: Ripple only uses what’s necessary, then locks the rest of the XRP back into new escrow contracts.
The funds are used for business operations, further development of the Ripple ecosystem, getting partners on board, etc. Ripple is very transparent with this procedure. The company submits full quarterly reports on sales.
Furthermore, the XRP ledger is public, which allows anyone to see the transactions as they happen and in which direction they go.
In the Q4 2021 report, it appears that three billion XRP was released out of escrow. Ripple sold 600 million XRP and locked 2.4 billion into new escrow accounts.
When will all XRP in escrows be released?
The scheduled release of all XRP used to be December 2038, according to the well-known XRP blog XRP Arcade, but that estimate has been abolished due to the changes in its emission, as Ripple Labs is known to put back in escrow any excess funds, which curtails inflation.
All we really know is that all 99.9 billion of its total supply will be in the market eventually, we just don’t know when.
2020 43 billion XRP
2022 48 billion XRP
2025 ???
2030 ???
2035 ???
???? 99.9 billion XRP
Due to the difficulty of predicting Ripple’s expenditures over time, it’s better to leave that as is.
Will XRP reach $100?
To know if XRP can realistically reach $100, we need to consider both the current circulating supply and the total supply. Because one day, it will eventually reach 99 billion.
If XRP reaches $100,
The current supply would be worth $4.4 trillion
Max supply will eventually be worth $9.9 trillion
Now that’s an awful lot of money! At the peak of the 2021 bullrun, the entire crypto market didn’t even reach $3 trillion. It’s crazy to think that one crypto-asset could hit those numbers alone.
For many analysts, the notion of XRP reaching over a trillion dollars is utter nonsense.
But consider this, who’s to say that the USD, the so-called “world reserve currency”, is not going to be devalued? Many economists agree that the US is due for a recession soon, and who could blame them? The federal reserve has been on a printing spree since the start of the COVID outbreak. In fact, it has printed nearly $13 trillion, according to reports in mid-2021.
However, take these types of predictions with a grain of salt. Nobody can truly foretell with certainty what’s gonna happen next. And many economists have made the wrong calls in 2018-19 when they claimed that a major crisis is due sometime in late 2020. While the US economy was in a bit of a recession that year, mostly due to COVID-induced mass shutdowns and layoffs, it did make a stunning recovery.
However, it is likely bound to happen, eventually. That’s always been the pattern for several decades. But how will it affect the price of cryptocurrencies? That’s the big question. We’ll never know until we get there.
But considering everything, yes, XRP can reach $100 per coin.
But there’s a catch! It won’t be the same $100 you’re used to. Due to the devaluation of the USD, who knows how much $100 is going to be worth?
When will it happen?
I don’t like making predictions, but if I were to project a possible timeline, it would likely be sometime between 2030-and 2040, which is a decade or more from now.
Why? Because that’s the minimum timeframe necessary to have a smooth transition from a fiat-driven world to a crypto-driven one. Anything quicker would mean massive destabilization and chaos.
We wouldn’t want that. And it’s not likely to happen that fast. People hate to change and decentralized ledger technologies need time to slowly creep into our modern lifestyle. It probably won’t be there for a while, but who knows, really.
IMPORTANT: This is just a possibility, NOT a guarantee.
How high can XRP go?
Now that you are open to the possibility of XRP hitting that $100 mark, you possibly might want to know just how high it can go?
Alright, let’s consider what XRP is good for.
It is meant to function as an international mediator currency. That is to say, it’s going to be a bridge between all currencies, whether that be crypto or fiat.
You see, not all currencies are as universally convertible as USD. Today, USD is used as a mediator currency because it can be traded with nearly every conceivable currency in existence (except those that they have imposed sanctions on, hello Russia!).
But this incurs extra costs since you need to convert the currency twice — first to USD, then to your desired currency. In that sense, XRP can possibly replace the USD as the world reserve and mediator currency since its costs are way cheaper. With a transaction fee of 0.00001 XRP, it might as well be free.
So how high can XRP get? It won’t be far from what USD is worth worldwide.
XRP vs USD
According to the US Federal reserve, the circulating supply of the dollar is over 21.8 trillion as of February 2022. This includes fiat banknotes, coins, savings deposits, mutual funds, money market instruments, and time deposits.
Now, it would be very difficult for XRP to surpass that in value, but it potentially could in market cap.
If XRP dethrones USD, then the Feds will likely ramp up their money-printing process, which will devalue the national currency. Then, the hyperinflation begins!
It would be difficult to measure the degree of hyperinflation at this point. But judging by the relative stability of the US economy, it should only be limited to somewhere between 300 and 500 percent from today. Far from Venezuela’s 10 million percent.
Please note that this is an estimate within an estimate. A lot of variables could be off.
If this is the case, the circulating monetary supply would be between $87-$130.8 trillion, with an average mean of $108.9 trillion. Now it would be unwise to assume that even in this scenario, XRP would take the dollar’s whole market share. That’s almost never the case in any market.
Instead, let’s assume two bullish scenarios: one where XRP takes 50% and 80% of USD’s projected future market share, respectively, which would be between $54 and $87 trillion. Now let’s divide this by XRP’s total supply, which is roughly 99.9 billion, and we’d get between $540 and $870.
The highest price of XRP should be around $870!
But note that this dollar amount will most likely not be worth as much by then.
IMPORTANT: This is a very crude estimate.
Potential XRP Killers
Keep in mind that this is a very bullish projection. There are many factors that will affect the success of XRP. This includes competitors like other payment-focused cryptocurrencies like BTC, various stablecoins, and even central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
This is an extremely competitive market so if Ripple plans to dominate, it would take everything it has, and that might not even be enough. Couple that with its current legal problems, which could very well end up in its favor, the road ahead appears to be rife with challenges.
And if this projection does happen, it’s gonna take a decade or two.
XRP Price Prediction End of 2022
Predicting the future price is fun and all. But while we’re at it, let’s see what’s in store for XRP this 2023. A lot of crypto price predictions have gone wrong so take this with a grain of salt.
It’s common knowledge in the crypto space that XRP’s price took the worst beating after the SEC’s accusation that the founders are selling the asset as a security, which violates the law and could spell the end of Ripple. Fortunately, Ripple is willing to fight tooth and nail to defend the public’s perception of XRP as a utility token, as opposed to an illegal security.
Based on the latest findings in the series of trials, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse thinks that the tides have turned in their favor, finally. However, this won’t be the end of the road yet as cases like these usually take time to close. Considering that, I think there is a 50/50 chance that Ripple could officially win in the trial by the end of the year.
And if that happens, it will likely start by reclaiming its previous all-time high of $3.37. That should be a fair price, considering that XRP already hit that high in early January 2018. Ripple has advanced its technologies and influence by leaps and bounds since then, and a victory over the most notorious financial watchdog would put it in the spotlight. Even if the world economy is hit by a recession, it is likely that XRP will hold above $2 if it wins.
However, if it plays out differently and the SEC wins, this could be a checkmate for Ripple, and all its investors will take the fall with it. If this happens, we can expect the price of XRP to approach 0.
If you’re interested in buying XRP, you can do so through various cryptocurrency exchanges, such as KuCoin, Binance, Coinbase, or Kraken. If you’re asking yourself ” How can I buy XRP?”, you’ll need to create an account on your chosen exchange, verify your identity, deposit funds, and then place an order.
Conclusion
XRP has been in the top 3rd spot in the crypto market cap for several years, even surpassing ETH on some occasions. But today, other crypto assets have eclipsed XRP due to its legal problems, but it’s still in the top 10. The way things are going, there is a higher chance of XRP attaining its previous all-time high.
In the future, there is a likelihood that XRP will go as high as $100, possibly more since it is the last haven for banks. But the value might not be as high as we think they are, but still relatively very high.
Furthermore, the XRP Ledger has plans to build the infrastructure of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as seen in its NFT Conceptual Overview. Soon, you will see the XRP ledger power NFTs, which could add another use case beyond payments.
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