Where Will XRP Be in 5 Years?

Dominic Basulto, The Motley Fool

Tue, May 6, 2025, 4:45 AM 5 min read

• After skyrocketing by nearly 600%, XRP has now cooled off and currently trades around $2.

• With its regulatory problems behind it, XRP has a new window of opportunity for growth and expansion.

• The most likely scenario for XRP is a doubling in price to regain its all-time high of $4.

In January 2025, XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) was one of the hottest cryptocurrencies on the planet. At one point, XRP was up nearly 600% after the 2024 presidential election, and the chart for XRP was wonderfully, beautifully parabolic.

But it's been a tougher slog of late. For the year, XRP is up a modest 6% and has traded within a relatively narrow band around the $2 price level since March. Where is XRP headed next? Is more explosive growth on the horizon? Let's take a closer look.

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The good news is that XRP's regulatory problems appear to be behind it. For more than four years, the SEC has been trying to classify XRP as a "security." However, given the pro-crypto approach of the Trump administration, the SEC has now backed away from its claims, and the legal battle against Ripple (the company behind the XRP token) has finally ended.

In theory, a resolution of this case opens the door for massive new expansion and growth at Ripple, especially within the U.S. market. That's a big reason why the price of XRP skyrocketed in value after the 2024 election -- investors were already beginning to price in the upside potential for XRP under a crypto-friendly administration.

Earlier in the year, XRP appeared to be a frontrunner as the next cryptocurrency to gain SEC approval for a new spot ETF. Only two other cryptocurrencies -- Bitcoin and Ethereum -- have spot ETFs, so XRP would be in some pretty exclusive company.

A new spot ETF would open the door for a much broader range of retail and institutional investors to buy XRP, helping to push up its price over time. However, given the current tariff uncertainty, it looks like the SEC won't be approving any new spot ETFs until the end of 2025 at the earliest.

But even if the ETF catalyst doesn't work out as planned, there are other potential catalysts. One of the most exciting of these involves stablecoins, which have become a $200 billion industry.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar, and backed by cash and cash equivalents. They're important because they are the bridge between the worlds of traditional finance (which needs physical dollars) and decentralized finance (which needs digital dollars).