A new thread from TheCryptoBasic has reignited a familiar XRP debate, but this time the argument leans less on hype and more on infrastructure. The discussion centers on whether Ripple’s expanding financial stack could eventually route trillions of dollars through the XRP Ledger, and what that would mean for XRP’s long-term price.
The thread highlights comments from Jake Claver, CEO of Digital Ascension Group, who points out that the XRPL already processes billions in value, while XRP-linked ETFs continue to pull in capital. His core argument is simple: if Ripple succeeds in turning its full payments, custody, stablecoin, and tokenization stack into real financial plumbing, the scale of capital flowing through the XRPL could change how XRP is valued.
This idea did not appear in a vacuum. It builds on what Ripple actually shipped throughout 2025.
Ripple’s 2025 Expansion Wasn’t Just Narrative
Ripple spent much of 2025 deepening its institutional footprint rather than chasing retail momentum. One of the most notable developments came in July, when BNY Mellon became the primary custodian for Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin. That move tied one of the largest global custodians directly into Ripple’s ecosystem and gave RLUSD a level of credibility few stablecoins achieve.
Earlier in the year, Ripple partnered with Ctrl Alt to support the Dubai Land Department’s real estate tokenization initiative on the XRPL. That partnership placed the ledger inside a live government-backed use case, moving XRPL activity beyond experiments and pilots.
Ripple also expanded geographically. In October, Absa Bank partnered with Ripple to provide digital asset custody services in South Africa, marking Ripple’s first major custody collaboration on the continent. In December, Ripple extended its partnership with TJM Investments, adding further depth on the institutional side.
Here’s How High Price Per $XRP Could go If #Ripple’s Financial Channels Brings Trillions to the #XRPL.🧵🧵🧵 pic.twitter.com/4LA6AABxG5
— TheCryptoBasic (@thecryptobasic) December 22, 2025
Payments remained central to the strategy. In November, Ripple joined Mastercard, WebBank, and Gemini to enable RLUSD-based stablecoin settlement. The goal was to streamline fiat settlement across card programs, another step toward embedding Ripple’s tools inside existing financial rails.
Alongside these partnerships, RippleNet continued to grow. By November 2025, more than 300 banks and financial institutions were connected to the network. That figure matters because RippleNet adoption directly supports the broader thesis that XRP and the XRPL are being positioned as operational infrastructure rather than speculative assets.
Activity on the XRPL reflected that steady growth. Data cited by The Motley Fool showed average XRPL payments around $3,207 over a 30-day period ending December 8. Daily transactions held between 900,000 and 1,000,000, while daily payment volumes ranged from roughly $396 million to peaks near $17 billion. These are not retail meme flows. They are settlement-sized numbers.
How High Could XRP Go If Trillions Arrive?
Claver’s thesis is where the discussion turns more speculative. If Ripple’s financial channels eventually direct trillions of dollars onto the XRPL, XRP’s role as a liquidity and bridge asset would change in scale. To explore that idea, TheCryptoBasic referenced an analysis generated by Google Gemini, outlining several potential scenarios.
In a moderate growth case, driven by retail demand and early ETF inflows, Gemini estimated XRP could trade between $3.50 and $5.80, revisiting prior cycle highs. This scenario assumes adoption continues but remains partial.
A stronger growth phase, where RLUSD sees deeper integration and XRP becomes widely used as a bridge asset for cross-border banking, pushes those estimates higher. Under that framework, Gemini placed XRP in an $8.00 to $13.00 range.
The most aggressive scenario assumes the XRPL evolves into a major liquidity layer for real-world asset tokenization and central bank digital currencies. In that case, Gemini modeled XRP prices from $26 to above $100. At that level, XRP would no longer be valued as a typical crypto asset, but as infrastructure underpinning global settlement flows.
The thread also made the constraints clear. An XRP price around $10 would require a market capitalization north of $500 billion. A $100 XRP would exceed the current valuation of the entire crypto market. Those numbers explain why even bullish projections remain conditional and long-term.
What stands out in this discussion is not the price targets themselves, but the shift in framing. The argument is less about charts and more about throughput, custody, and settlement layers. Whether Ripple ultimately succeeds in routing trillions through the XRPL remains open. But the path being outlined is grounded in partnerships and live financial use, not slogans.
Read also: XRP ETFs Just Hit $60M in Assets, So Why Is XRP Price Still Struggling?
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