Crypto pundit SMQKE said XRP holders should remember the token’s historic upside and consider how Ripple’s recent institutional moves improve its upside potential. He highlighted that XRP delivered roughly 350x between 2017–2018, while Bitcoin and Ethereum gained about 14x and 100x respectively—making XRP’s rise roughly 24 times steeper than Bitcoin’s during that run. Those gains came before Ripple’s major acquisitions, driven largely by early network momentum.
SMQKE noted Ripple has since spent over $3 billion on strategic acquisitions that build institutional-grade infrastructure. Key deals include 2023’s $250 million purchase of Metaco (bank-grade custody used by G-SIBs), 2024’s acquisition of New York–regulated Standard Custody, and last year’s purchases that were especially impactful: Hidden Road (now Ripple Prime) for $1.25 billion, the stablecoin payments platform Rail, treasury management platform GTreasury, and wallet/custody provider Palisade. He argued these moves create a much stronger foundation for durable price appreciation and suggested XRP’s past returns might have been only a preview of potential future network value, especially if integrations with systems like SWIFT, FedNow, or DTCC materialize.
On why price remains subdued, SMQKE referenced former Ripple exec Marcus Treacher, who framed XRP as a long-term utility play rather than a pure speculative asset. Treacher emphasized that transforming global payments via the XRP Ledger is a major undertaking and that utility—rather than headlines—will drive lasting price gains. SMQKE echoed this, saying news alone doesn’t move prices; growing real-world use cases will.
At the time of writing, XRP traded around $1.39 (CoinMarketCap). Charts referenced from SMQKE and TradingView.
