XRP’s price has plunged over the past year. It could stabilize as Ripple launches more services on the XRP Ledger. It’s overcome its biggest challenges, and more catalysts might be ahead. The founders of Ripple Labs, a fintech company that specializes in blockchain-based payments, launched XRP in 2012 after pre-minting its entire supply of 100 billion tokens.
It can’t be actively mined like Bitcoin or staked like Ethereum. The XRP Ledger has also launched a sidechain compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) for developing decentralized apps (dApps). Those connections could support the usage of XRP in more decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. Ripple has already been using XRP as a bridge currency to support cross-border transactions for its own stablecoin, Ripple USD (RLUSD), which was launched in late 2024.
Ripple recently submitted its application for a U.S. bank charter, and its expansion into a full-fledged bank could support increased use of XRP as a bridge currency. XRP could soar higher if a new crypto summer begins. A $50 investment in XRP’s earliest trade in 2013 would still be worth nearly $14,700 today. I doubt it can replicate those massive gains over the next decade as the altcoin market tightens up, but it could be a smart place to park a few dollars if a new crypto summer begins.
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