XRP price to $18K? — One crypto ‘research’ group says it’s possible

The speculative nature of cryptocurrencies personifies the concept “anything is fair game” when it comes to valuation. These analyses can thread a skinny line between being respectable or ridiculed. In 2018-2019, tossing the thought of a $100,000 Bitcoin price was thought-about so absurd that famend economists took offense and condemned the mere ideas of such statements.

Bitcoin (BTC) definitely obtained the final chuckle in that case, and in 2025, the identical optimism is flowing inside one other ferociously loyal neighborhood, the XRP (XRP) military. 

After President Trump’s election victory, XRP price reached new highs, re-testing its all-time excessive of $3.41. After 4 years of the SEC respiratory down on Ripple’s neck, the notorious securities case nonetheless awaits a decision. 

As a results of XRP rallying to new all-time highs, even bigger predictions like “$XRP to $100” or “$XRP to $1,000” have flooded social media platforms over the previous 3 months. 

However, one distinctive analysis report takes the predictions to new highs, with the analyst forecasting an $18,000 price goal for XRP.

XRP to $18,000?

In June 2023, a month earlier than XRP was declared “not a security” by Judge Analisa Torres, a valuation white paper named “A Comprehensive Approach To Determine The Fair Market Value Of XRP” was launched. 

The white paper was revealed by Valhill Capital, the place a number of authors offered 5 valuation fashions to consider XRP’s long-term price, with “XRP Valuation Model #4” taking the candy spot as probably the most ideally suited outlook based mostly on token utility and future international adoption. 

Utilizing the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) strategy, the fundamental assumption taken was that Ripple would deal with a big portion of world transactions within the subsequent 10 years, producing charges on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and probably tokenizing a considerable portion of world wealth, whereas changing conventional remittance techniques likes SWIFT. The valuation evaluation was carried out based mostly on the next information: 

Base Global Transaction Volume: $104 Trillion

Economic Growth Rate (Over 10 years, 2023-2032): 2%

Applied Discount Rate: 10%

Total Transaction Present Value: $915 Trillion

XRP Circulating Supply: $50.7 billion

Price per XRP: $18,036

In an ideal world for Ripple Labs and XRP, the place the XRP ledger turns into the bedrock of the worldwide monetary remittance system, the XRP military would have the wealth to go to conflict with any impartial nation (pun meant).

Jokes apart, taking the mannequin at face worth in 2025, Cointelegraph analyzed if the anticipated adoption price is progressing as predicted. 

Fact-checking XRP rumors and actuality

As of Feb. 28, 2025, there isn’t a official affirmation from any authoritative supply that XRP has been totally included by a US financial institution for cross-border funds or inside transactions.

RippleInternet, Ripple’s international funds community, has been linked with a number of US banks reminiscent of JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citigroup however formally, solely PNC Bank and Bank of America have definitive evidence-based partnerships.

Regarding Bank of America (BofA), one clip that went viral on X contains Sound Planning Group CEO David Stryzewski stating that the monetary establishment has been using RippleInternet and XRP for “100% of its internal transactions” for 2 years. However, the inconsistency in information is bluntly evident. The common day by day inside transactions carried out by a monetary establishment of BofA dimension is round 1.2 to 1.5 million. 

XRPL has not managed transactional operations of that dimension for any two years since 2018. Stryzewkski additionally talked about that XRP was the second largest crypto asset earlier than the SEC filed its securities case towards Ripple on Dec. 22, 2020. The final time XRP was above Ethereum based mostly on market capitalization was in January 2019, nearly two years earlier than the SEC knocked on the door.

Another incident that caps off the speculatory nature of XRP developments stems at Wells Fargo’s expense. In August 2024, Wells Fargo allegedly accredited utilizing XRP for settling bank card and mortgage funds, which Rick Lange, a licensed monetary planner, extensively spoke about on LinkedIn. However, Vittorio DiBenedetto, a Wells Fargo worker, left a remark in January 2025, stating, 

“Not true. Why spread fake news?”

Will XRP and Ripple take over legacy cost techniques?

To be truthful, XRP price has carried out effectively over the previous 12 months and there are causes to be optimistic. Cointelegraph has extensively reported on a number of spot XRP ETFs filed by varied fund managers in February, indicating potential upside for XRP sooner or later.

However, concerning XRP’s adoption and its aim of changing into the money stream worth pipeline of the world, RippleInternet and XRP are nowhere shut to the projections made within the white paper. The chance of XRP being price $18,036 by 2030 is infinitesimally small.  

Related: Why is XRP price down at present?

This article doesn’t comprise funding recommendation or suggestions. Every funding and buying and selling transfer entails danger, and readers ought to conduct their very own analysis when making a call.