XRP (XRP-USD) might look like it’s treading water under $4, but the token is sitting on a powder keg of pending catalysts. If any one of them ignites, especially an ETF approval or SEC dismissal, the price action could be explosive.
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XRP is trading at around $2.33, down more than 30% from its recent high and still 40% below its 2018 peak of $3.84. But this isn’t a typical slump. It’s a moment of consolidation after a year-long sprint that saw regulatory clarity, renewed exchange listings, and fresh institutional interest. The token’s recent pullback isn’t a red flag—it’s a coiled spring.
After years in legal limbo, XRP got a crucial win in mid-2023 when a federal court ruled that it isn’t a security in secondary market sales. That ruling, while not an outright victory, was enough to push exchanges like Coinbase (COIN) and Kraken to relist the token. The SEC’s subsequent softening stance, capped by a lighter-than-expected penalty, removed a massive overhang. Rumors are now swirling that the agency might even abandon its appeal altogether. That kind of regulatory closure could open the floodgates for new institutional adoption.
The Big Guns Are Moving Again
Grayscale, which shelved its XRP Trust in 2020, reopened it last year as a closed-end fund for accredited investors. Meanwhile, fresh applications for spot XRP ETFs are hitting regulatory desks. If the SEC greenlights them, we could see the same kind of capital flows that propelled Bitcoin past $70,000 earlier this year.
Ripple, the company behind XRP, is also making strategic plays that hint at major utility ahead. It’s applied for a U.S. banking license, a move that could open the door to using XRP as a real-time liquidity bridge for fiat transfers between global financial institutions. Ripple is already piloting programs with central banks to settle CBDC transfers using XRP as the connective tissue.
XRP’s Use Case Is Growing
Unlike Bitcoin, XRP isn’t capped by mining limits or scarcity narratives. It’s more of a utility token than a store of value. That’s a knock to some investors, but a blessing to others. It means XRP can scale as fast as its use case, and Ripple is aggressively trying to make that use case a global settlement layer for remittances and FX.
Developers are even working on lightweight smart contract capabilities via “hooks” and exploring Ethereum-compatible sidechains. It’s early-stage stuff, but it shows XRP is evolving beyond simple transfers.
Can XRP Actually Hit $4 and Stay There?
Let’s run the math. At $4 per token, XRP’s market cap would swell from $138 billion to nearly $235 billion. That puts it in Ethereum’s orbit. To get there, every catalyst has to fire: an SEC resolution, ETF approvals, global banking use, and real traction in the CBDC space. That’s a high bar—but not impossible.
For now, many analysts see the next ceiling at around $3.20. But once you’re in that range, the jump to $4 isn’t so far-fetched, especially if a major bank or remittance corridor adopts XRP wholesale.
At the time of writing, XRP is sitting at $2.3171.
