The price of XRP has historically fluctuated between $0,002802 (Jul 07, 2014) and $3,84 (Jan 04, 2018). XRP is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies among investors. Ripple’s future appears more promising than it has in many years. The XRP price forecast looks exciting and uncertain simultaneously.
The XRP price development in recent years
The price of XRP has historically fluctuated between $0,002802 (Jul 07, 2014) and $3,84 (Jan 04, 2018). The price history of XRP starts in August 2013. This information is based on the data from Coinmarkecap.
The XRP price started from just a few tenths of a cent and eventually moved to over three dollars per coin. XRP has been a great investment for those involved in 2017 (or earlier). At the beginning of 2017, the XRP price was only 0,006 dollars! It was an actual “penny stock,” which was hardly discussed on social media.
In the spring of 2017, however, things started to happen, as the XRP price increased 10-fold during March-April to 0,06 dollars. The wild rise continued, as in May 2017, we saw a unit price of around 0,35 dollars. This translates to a 60-fold increase in price in just six months! XRP became increasingly popular, and social media analysts started discussing its banking connections.
The real explosion happened from the beginning of December 2017 to the start of January 2018. At that time, there was a big altcoin boom going on. XRP was undoubtedly one of the rally drivers, and it was constantly talked about in the first days of 2018, even on the popular CNBC TV channel.
The graphic below shows the XRP price (Ripple price) in dollars from 2017.
On January 4, 2018, XRP’s all-time high price was an incredible $ 3,84. If you had acquired XRP precisely one year earlier, your investment would have increased more than 600 times!
In the end, the rapidly inflated bubble burst, and the entire crypto market collapsed drastically during the spring of 2018. The XRP token fell with the others. Bitcoin fell over 80% from its peak in 2018, and many altcoins dropped 95-99%. Since the summer of 2018, the unit price of XRP remained primarily between $0.25 and $0.55 until 2021.
The lowest price was in March 2020, when the crisis caused by the coronavirus collapsed the cryptocurrency market. In the 2021 bull market, the price of XRP rose by hundreds of percent and even crossed the $1.50 mark. However, the bear market that started in November 2021 took XRP down along with the rest.
The price of XRP fell to around $0.30 in the June 2022 bear market. It hovered between $0.3 and $0.5 until June 2023, when it got a nice boost from the SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit win. The forecast for the XRP price looked much brighter after Ripple’s victory. The year 2023 ended with an 81 percent gain for XRP.
Until November arrived in the year 2024, XRP’s performance was poor. The price moved sideways or in a slight decline throughout the year and fell to almost $0.40 in July. In the first week of November, it was $0.50, a more than ten percent drop from the starting point.
The rise in the crypto market following the US presidential election also influenced XRP. Over two weeks, the XRP price rose from around $0.50 to $1.40. Thanks to this, 2024 is well over 100 percent on the plus side.
XRP price vs. Ripple price?
The terms XRP and Ripple still confuse investors. The XRP token was listed on exchanges under Ripple in its early years. Investors monitored the Ripple price, and this search term is still used today. However, that is a misnomer.
Ripple is the technology company that created XRP, the cryptocurrency. Hence, investors follow the price of XRP, not the price of Ripple.
Ripple has been trying to separate its name from the name of the XRP token for years.
To be precise, the Ripple course would mean the stock price of the Ripple company. In the crypto world, some people still refer to XRP’s price as Ripple’s. You shouldn’t be one of those investors!
Basic information about the XRP token
XRP is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies among investors. It established itself in the top 10 crypto ranking list after the 2017 bull market. One reason for XRP’s popularity is the low unit price, which creates the illusion of a higher upside potential than Bitcoin.
Many novice investors are easily confused by Ripple and XRP. Let’s clarify the differences between these next. Ripple is an American technology company that develops solutions for the banking world. Ripple has created the RippleNet network to speed up bank data transfer and lower costs.
Ripple has also developed a blockchain technology called XRP Ledger, whose native currency is the XRP token. Like other cryptocurrencies, XRP Ledger is open-source software; anyone can join its network. If you buy an XRP token, you move it into the XRP Ledger network.
RippleNet is a different network that does not necessarily use XRP. Ripple offers many other services to banks, one of which is related to the XRP token. This is called ODL or Crypto Liquidity. Crypto Liquidity is a liquidity pool for currency exchange using XRP tokens.
Below is an image of the Crypto Liquidity service from Ripple’s website.
The widespread adoption of such pools may result in certain institutions holding significant XRP tokens. So far, this has not been the case. It is also impossible to say what kind of contracts Ripple will make with banks.
It should also be understood that Ripple still holds about half of all XRP tokens. In recent years, it has sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of them to the market for profit. Ripple can’t dump all XRP tokens on the market just like that because a particular escrow agreement prevents it. However, this selling pressure has contributed to keeping the token’s price low.
Ripple’s future
Ripple’s future appears more promising than it has in many years. This is primarily due to the favorable development of the Ripple vs. SEC lawsuit.
In December 2020, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued XRP founders Chris Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse. The reason was the same old controversial issue that has been on the table in the United States for years: whether the XRP token is a security.
Although the process is not 100% complete, the most important victory for Ripple’s future was achieved in July 2023. At that time, a US court ruled that XRP is not a security, significantly impacting the XRP forecast.
The election of Donald Trump also had a positive impact on Ripple’s future. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse visited Trump and his advisors immediately after the presidential election, and Trump’s win will no doubt help all US crypto companies.
At the same time, Gary Gensler, the current head of the SEC, will resign. It means the legal proceedings against Ripple will end, allowing the company to focus on its core business instead of lawsuits.
XRP forecast
The XRP price forecast looks exciting and uncertain simultaneously. Making an XRP forecast is much easier after the legal victory in July 2023. The legal battle that hurt Ripple and the XRP price mainly was removed.
In October 2023, the SEC also dropped charges against Ripple’s executives and will no longer sue Ripple. However, the SEC’s position is fragile, so few expect any adverse developments for Ripple and the XRP price from this process.
The XRP forecast can now be primarily based on XRP’s fundamentals. What do they look like? Does the XRP price have the potential to return to ATH levels someday? There are no clear answers to these questions yet.
XRP price predictions are often based on hopes and beliefs in social media. “Just wait; when X happens, the XRP price will go to the moon.” This is problematic for investors because most base investment decisions on concrete facts. Ripple’s business actions and the fundamentals of the XRP token are constantly getting mixed up. They differ significantly from what novice investors understand.
Even though the XRP prediction seems uncertain, XRP still has a huge fan base. If you have become one of them and want to acquire this coin, we have created a beginner’s guide on How to Buy XRP. The article gives detailed instructions on quickly and safely buying XRP from a domestic exchange.
