Despite Recent Growth in the Broader Cryptocurrency Market, XRP Has Shown Weak Momentum

Despite recent growth in the broader cryptocurrency market, XRP has shown weak momentum. While Bitcoin (BTC) has surged over 11% this week

Despite recent surges in the broader cryptocurrency market, Ripple’s XRP has shown weak momentum compared to Bitcoin (BTC). While BTC has skyrocketed over 11% this week, hitting a new high of $94,671 and nearing the $100,000 mark, XRP has only managed a 6.56% gain. It continues to struggle near the $2.21 level, facing persistent resistance and failing to reflect the broader market’s recovery. Nonetheless, some analysts remain optimistic about the token’s long-term potential, with a few projecting the possibility of the asset eventually reaching a price of $100.

Could XRP Realistically Hit $100?

This scenario would depend on significant changes in XRP’s tokenomics and the size of the global crypto market. Currently, more conservative price targets, such as $10 and $27, seem more plausible. However, some market commentators have suggested that XRP could reach as high as $100 under the right conditions. Last year, crypto analyst Levi Rietveld expressed strong confidence in this outcome, and more recently, analyst BarriC stated that investors may one day be willing to pay $100 per token.

This projection would also be contingent upon a substantial reduction in the asset’s total supply. XRPScan data shows that the asset has a total supply of about 99 billion tokens. At $100 per token, this would result in a fully diluted market capitalization of $9.9 trillion. For context, Bitcoin’s current valuation is roughly $1.9 trillion, and the entire global crypto market cap is around $3 trillion. Moreover, the estimated value of all the gold in the world is $22 trillion.

Addressing the Supply Barrier

One potential path to reducing XRP’s market cap at higher price levels involves decreasing the total token supply. A commonly proposed solution has been the burning of Ripple’s escrow balance, which currently holds around 36.8 billion XRP. Burning this stash would reduce the circulating and total potential supply, potentially leading to higher valuations.

However, Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, has discouraged this approach. He points to the 2019 example of Stellar, which destroyed a portion of its token supply without achieving significant price gains. As such, the effectiveness of supply reduction in boosting price remains uncertain.

Another idea, discussed within the community, involves donating the escrowed XRP to the U.S. government, following former President Donald Trump’s recent remarks about XRP being included in a national crypto reserve. While symbolically impactful, the practical implications of this action on price dynamics are still unclear.

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Broader Market Growth as a Key Factor

Even with a reduced supply, achieving a $100 valuation for the token would require substantial expansion of the entire cryptocurrency market. If XRP’s total supply were cut to 63 billion tokens and reached $100 per token, the resulting market cap would be $6.3 trillion. For XRP to account for just 6% of the total market, the global crypto market would need to grow to around $113.33 trillion.

For comparison, if Bitcoin maintained its current dominance level of about 64.5%, it would command a $73.13 trillion market cap in this scenario. Divided across its 21 million coin supply, this would equate to a BTC price of around $3.4 million. Interestingly, this aligns with a forecast made by VanEck in 2024, which predicted Bitcoin could reach $3 million by 2050.

While the possibility of XRP hitting $100 is not entirely implausible, it is highly improbable without extraordinary changes in XRP’s tokenomics and the size of the global crypto market. The potential for such a price point to be realized depends largely on the cooperation and actions of the broader cryptocurrency community.