Experts emphasize XRP's role in fast cross-border payments beyond speculation, following regulatory relief and a price surge to over $2. Ripple Labs, valued at $40 billion, has strengthened its position after resolving its SEC dispute. On-chain data shows millions of monthly transactions primarily for payments.
Ripple Labs, the San Francisco-based blockchain firm behind XRP launched in 2012, has seen its valuation exceed $40 billion amid a favorable regulatory shift under President Trump. Since the November 2024 U.S. presidential election, XRP's price has climbed from $0.50 to $2.15, marking a 330% increase and surpassing levels last seen in the 2017 bull run.
The cryptocurrency's value stems from its utility in cross-border payments, according to experts. Gregory Monaco, a certified public accountant, stated, “Bitcoin is viewed as ‘digital gold’, Ethereum is known for smart contracts. XRP gets its value from cross-border payments.” Ripple boasts 300 financial partners across 45 countries, facilitating $15 billion in annual cross-border payments. Hedy Wang, CEO of Block Street, noted traction in Japan, East Asia, the Philippines, and Latin America, saying, “In the US it’s been more constrained because of the whole SEC saga, so interest skewed retail and offshore venues.”
Cross-border transfers are often slow and costly, but XRP offers a borderless, efficient alternative. Wang added, “If Ripple keeps stacking licenses and bank/fintech integrations, XRP can survive as niche financial plumbing.” However, Paul Holmes from BrokerListings cautioned, “XRP is still heavily a speculative asset,” with valuation driven by liquidity rather than income.
Regulatory progress includes Ripple's May 2025 agreement to a $50 million SEC judgment settlement. On November 13, 2024, Robinhood relisted XRP. By early 2024, the network had over 5 million wallets, with 58% of activity from ten wallets. On-chain data reveals 50-55 million monthly transactions, mostly payments. Raquel Amanda from Ripple affirmed, “XRP is already being used to move value between currencies, stablecoins, and across the growing set of tokenized financial assets on the network.”
Despite a failed U.S. XRP ETF attempt by CoinShares due to regulatory uncertainty, nine live products hold $1.1 billion in assets under management. XRP's price has risen over 36,000% since its August 3, 2013, exchange listing, positioning it as programmable money for institutional transfers.