Rich by Coin

In a bull case scenario, XRP will hit the $10 price level by 2028.
In a bear case scenario, XRP will continue to drift down below the $1 price level.
The future of XRP rests on the fate of institutional adoption and the willingness of large financial institutions to use the XRP blockchain.
If there’s one cryptocurrency that has continually teased crypto investors with its upside potential, it’s XRP (CRYPTO: XRP).

Even though XRP has never traded higher than a price of $4 in more than a decade, it’s still quite easy to find near-term price targets as high as $100.
To figure out a realistic price target for XRP, however, investors must be able to separate the signal from the noise.
Are new catalysts really capable of sending XRP skyrocketing higher over the next three years, or will they fizzle out, just like previous ones?
In a best-case scenario, all of XRP’s current catalysts continue to deliver as planned.

New spot XRP ETFs continue to attract money from investors, the pace of institutional adoption continues to grow, and XRP becomes the key centerpiece of an end-to-end financial payment network for sending money around the world.
If that’s the case, then XRP could realistically hit a price of $10 or higher by the end of 2028.
According to Standard Chartered, XRP will hit a price of $8 this year, before soaring to the $12.50 mark by the end of 2028.
With XRP currently trading below the $2 mark, that might sound like pie-in-the-sky thinking.

Ripple, the company behind the XRP token, spent $2.5 billion on new blockchain and crypto acquisitions in 2025.
If Ripple is able to generate significant synergies from these acquisitions, then the goal of creating an entirely new financial payment network with XRP at the core might not be so far-fetched after all.
In a worst-case scenario, XRP once again overpromises and underdelivers.

Inflows into the new spot XRP ETFs begin to tail off, financial institutions scale back their pace of adoption, new regulatory clarity around XRP suddenly becomes cloudier, and stablecoins eventually supplant XRP as the easiest, cheapest, and fastest way to send money around the world.
If that’s the case, then it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that XRP could dip below the $1 mark.
As can be seen in the five-year chart above, XRP rarely traded above the $1 mark in the period from February 2021 to November 2024.

The future of XRP rests on the fate of institutional adoption.
Put simply, if large financial institutions and Wall Street banks do not want to use the XRP blockchain ledger for payments and transactions, then there’s no realistic path higher for XRP.
So keep a close eye on how well Ripple is able to integrate its billions of dollars in new blockchain acquisitions from last year.
If all goes according to plan, XRP will quickly make its way back to the $4 mark before soaring to $10 by the end of 2028.

XRP’s trajectory hinges on whether large financial institutions embrace the Ripple ledger for payments.
In a bull case, XRP could reach $10 by 2028; in a bear scenario, it may drift below the $1 level.
The future depends on the ability of institutional players to adopt the XRP blockchain and on ongoing catalysts that could sustain momentum.
In a best-case scenario, all current catalysts continue to deliver as planned.

New spot XRP ETFs may attract capital, institutional adoption could accelerate, and XRP could become the centerpiece of an end-to-end global payment network.
If that holds, XRP could realistically reach $10 or higher by the end of 2028.
Standard Chartered projects XRP at $8 this year and $12.50 by the end of 2028.
With XRP trading below the $2 mark, such targets may seem ambitious, but Ripple’s $2.5 billion in blockchain acquisitions in 2025 could generate meaningful synergies toward an XRP-led payments network.

In a worst-case scenario, XRP could again overpromise and underdeliver.
ETF inflows might tail off, institutional adoption could slow, regulatory clarity could grow murky, and stablecoins could replace XRP as a faster, cheaper way to move money, potentially pushing XRP below $1.
As shown in the past, XRP rarely traded above $1 in early 2021–2024.
The most likely scenario centers on institutional adoption.

If large financial institutions and Wall Street banks choose not to use the XRP ledger for payments, higher price points become unlikely.
Close monitoring of Ripple’s integration of its recent blockchain acquisitions is essential.
If all goes as planned, XRP could rebound to $4 and then target $10 by the end of 2028.