The speculative nature of cryptocurrencies personifies the idea that it is a “fair game of anything” when it comes to valuation. These analyses can twist thin lines between magnificent or ridiculous. From 2018 to 2019, throwing the idea of ​​a $100,000 Bitcoin price was considered so ridiculous that famous economists were attacked and condemned mere ideas of such a statement.
Bitcoin (BTC) certainly gave the last laugh in that case, with the same optimism flowing in 2025 in another ferociously loyal community, the XRP (XRP) army.
After winning the election for President Trump, XRP Price reached a new high, retesting its all-time high of $3.41. After four years of breathing on Ripple’s neck, the infamous securities case is still waiting for resolution.
As XRP concentrates on its all-time highs, social media platforms have been flooded over the past three months with bigger forecasts such as “$XRP to $100” or “$XRP to $1,000”.
However, one unique research report predicts XRP’s $18,000 price target to analysts and takes the forecast to a new high.
$18,000 from XRP?
In June 2023, a month before XRP was declared “not security,” Judge Analisa Torres released a rating white paper called “A Comprehensive Approach to Determining the Fair Market Value of XRP.”
The whitepaper was published by Valhill Capital, where multiple authors presented five rating models to assess the long-term price of XRP, with the XRP rating model #4 gaining the sweet spot as the most ideal outlook based on token utility and future global adoption.
Utilizing a discounted cash flow (DCF) approach, the basic assumption was that Ripple would handle most of the global transactions over the next decade, generate fees in the XRP ledger (XRPL), and perhaps tokenize a significant portion of the world’s wealth while exchanging traditional remittance systems. Evaluation analyses were performed based on the following data:
Basic Global Transaction Volume: $104 trillion
Economic growth rate (10 years or more, 2023-2032): 2%
Applicable discount rate: 10%
Total Transaction Present Value: $915 trillion
XRP Circulation Supply: $50.7 billion
Price per XRP: $18,036
In a perfect world for Ripple Labs and XRP, where XRP ledgers are the foundation of a global financial remittance system, the XRP army will have the wealth to go to war with independent nations (intended to Pun).
Jokes aside, Cointelegraph analyzed whether taking the model at face value in 2025 is progressing as expected, with expected adoption rates.
Fact-checking the rumors and reality of XRP
As of February 28, 2025, there is no official confirmation from the authoritative source that XRP is fully incorporated by US banks for cross-border payments or internal transactions.
Ripplenet, Ripplenet, the Global Payments Network, links with several US banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citigroup, but officially, only PNC Bank and Bank of America have a conclusive evidence-based partnership.
Will XRP be integrated into the US banking system? Source: Wallstreetbulls
Regarding Bank of America (BOFA), one clip that went viral on X includes Sound Planning Ground CEO David Stryzewski, who says that financial institutions have been using Ripplenet and XRP for “100% of internal transactions” for two years. However, the data inconsistencies are clearly evident. The average daily internal transactions carried out by BOFA-sized financial institutions range from approximately 120,000 to 1.5 million.
XRP ledger payment statistics. Source: XRPSCAN
XRPL has not managed transaction operations of that size for two years since 2018. Stryzewkski said XRP was the second largest crypto asset before filing securities against Ripple on December 22, 2020.
Another incident that curbs the speculative nature of XRP development is at the cost of Wells Fargo. In August 2024, Wells Fargo was reportedly approved by certified financial planner Rick Lange on LinkedIn using XRP for credit card and loan payments. However, Wells Fargo employee Vittorio DiBenezette left a comment in January 2025, saying:
“It’s not true. Why spread fake news?”
Will XRP and Ripple take over the legacy payment system?
To be fair, XRP prices have been functioning frequently over the last 12 months, and there is a reason to be optimistic. Cointelegraph widely reports on multiple spot XRP ETFs filed by various fund managers in February, demonstrating the potential benefits of XRP in the future.
However, Ripplenet and XRP are not nearly as forecasts made from white paper when it comes to adopting XRP and their goal of becoming a global cash flow value pipeline. The chances that by 2030 XRP is worth $18,036 is slightly smaller.
Related: Why is XRP lowering prices today?
This article does not include investment advice or recommendations. All investment and trading movements include risk and readers must do their own research when making decisions.
