XRP’s price today
XRP has been around longer than many people realize, having launched in June 2012. The coin, which runs on the Ripple blockchain, is designed as a way for banks and other financial institutions to send money to each other quickly and cheaply.
We’ll start this piece by looking at what the XRP price is today:
CHARTS
When looking at price data, it’s crucial to keep in mind that the accuracy of live XRP prices may vary across different sources. Our data is sourced from a reputable provider that constantly updates its information from multiple leading exchanges, ensuring the most accurate prices possible.
However, other less reliable sites may only use data from a few low-volume exchanges, leading to fluctuating prices that do not accurately reflect the broader market.
What affects the price of XRP?
Multiple elements can influence the XRP price. Some of these are internal, like its tokenomics and functionality, while others are external. Let’s look at the most critical factors on both slides.
Internal factors
Supply
The supply of XRP tokens has been a source of controversy ever since it was created. 100 billion tokens were pre-minted, of which only 45% entered the supply at the outset. The remaining 55% were to be sold off in batches over the years to fund the development of the ecosystem. This led to concerns that the XRP price would never increase if such a huge reservoir could be tapped at any time.
The amount of untapped XRP still stands at just under 50 billion.
Purpose
When Ripple launched in 2012, it’s fair to say that there was a demand by banks for a faster, cheaper way to send money internationally. However, as time has gone on and technology has improved, the desire to use Ripple in this manner has never really materialized, at least not on a particularly large scale.
This suggests that Ripple’s core model could soon become redundant.
Accusations of centralization
One of the core accusations of Ripple is that it is a centralized, pro-bank money processor rather than a legitimate cryptocurrency with a suitably public ledger. This has ensured that its reputation remains poor among a huge swathe of the cryptocurrency sector, meaning that it will never be as popular as other cryptocurrencies, a lack of popularity that could affect the XRP price long term.
External factors
Uptake
Ripple may have had grand designs when it started out, but these dreams have all but died. It has attracted no partnerships of the scale its founders had set their sights on, and in the intervening years banks themselves have come up with solutions to solve their issue of expensive and slow cross-border transactions.
JPMorgan’s Interbank Information Network for example has more than 330 member banks, including some of the biggest in the world, who all use its private blockchain for cross-border transfers.
Ripple needs to find a new target market to stay relevant, and keep the Ripple price up.
Supporter base
Ripple has a strong supporter base, known as the XRP army, which is heavily present on social media. This is useful when newer entrants come into the space because they can get swept up in the potential the XRP army says Ripple still possesses and can convince large numbers of people to buy the XRP token, helping to boost the Ripple price.
Black swan events
‘Black swan’ events are those events that are almost wholly unpredictable but can have a devastating effect on an asset or an entire market. Recent examples include the Terra/LUNA collapse, the collapse of FTX, and even the collapse of MtGox in 2014.
Ripple is not immune to such events, as we will soon discuss, and the XRP price can tank as a result.
Can you trust Ripple ‘experts’?
Ripple is a coin that divides opinion – many people either love it or hate it. As a result, trusting a cryptocurrency ‘expert’ on the future XRP price can be a dangerous move. Predictions about the Ripple price are often influenced by the personal bias of the person making the prediction – those who are bullish on Ripple tend to forecast a positive future, sometimes to ridiculous levels, while those who are bearish tend to predict its imminent death.
It’s vital to approach extreme viewpoints with skepticism and seek out opinions rooted in evidence, not emotions. To get a reliable expert opinion on XRP price potential, research the source to ensure their analysis is based on facts and not personal bias.
How does the future look for the XRP price?
While some may claim that they know what the XRP price will be in the future, no one knows for sure. However, there are certain short term and long term factors that will dictate the Ripple price, which we’ll look at now.
Short term factors
Market cycle
The cryptocurrency market is going through a bear market phase at present, following a huge bull market in 2020-2021. This saw the XRP price hit $1.84 – 18 months later it had dropped to $0.30.
The crypto market goes in cycles, which means that the XRP price will eventually recover with the entire market, it just might take some time to get there.
SEC lawsuit
We’ve done well to get this far without mentioning the lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In late 2020 the SEC sued Ripple, claiming its early token sales had been an unregistered sale of securities. This resulted in XRP being taken off some major exchanges, even though Ripple chose to fight the case.
The lawsuit massively impacted the XRP price in the last bull run, to the point where it performed worse than the prior one. It seems that both sides want to settle in 2023 however, which will get this particular monkey off Ripple’s back and will certainly help the XRP price when it’s over, unless the ruling is disastrous for it, which seems unlikely.
Global financial pressures
It can’t be ignored that the world is experiencing a financial downturn, which has helped to beat crypto prices down and largely keep them there, including the Ripple price. Only once there are green shoots of a recovery will people want, or be able, to put money into cryptocurrencies, and there are signs that could be happening soon.
Long term factors
Reduced appetite
As we have already discussed, a major impact on the XRP price in the long term is going to come down to who is using it. The token itself is designed to be used as a medium of national and international exchange rather than held for profit, but with hardly any institutional uptake, the question has to be asked – what will it be used for?
Given the reduced appetite of Ripple as a company providing solutions to banks, it needs to pivot to something else quickly or the XRP price will flounder as the coin becomes irrelevant.
Regulations
Ripple is in an interesting position because, unlike the majority of the crypto market, the SEC has already taken it to task over being a security. However that case plays out, if the SEC does decide to take market-wide action in the future, Ripple will therefore essentially be immune to any new securities-related charges.
However, this almost certainly won’t stop the Ripple price from being collateral damage if the entire market were to fall as a result.
Is Ripple future-proof?
Crypto moves extremely quickly, with new sub-sectors popping up all the time. DeFi, play-to-earn, move-to-earn, NFTs…the ideas and areas for expansion simply keep growing. Ripple has already branched into NFTs, but it remains to be seen if, as an older project, it has the appeal and staying power of a Bitcoin or an Ethereum.
If not, the XRP price will experience diminishing returns over the years.