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

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

Bitcoin (BTC) certainly got the last laugh in that case, and in 2025, the same optimism is flowing within another ferociously loyal community, the XRP (XRP) army. 

After President Trump’s election victory, XRP price reached new highs, re-testing its all-time high of $3.41. After four years of the SEC breathing down on Ripple’s neck, the infamous securities case still awaits a resolution. 

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

However, one unique research report takes the predictions to new highs, with the analyst forecasting an $18,000 price target for XRP.

XRP to $18,000?

In June 2023, a month before 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 released. 

The white paper was published by Valhill Capital, where multiple authors presented five valuation models to evaluate XRP’s long-term price, with “XRP Valuation Model #4” taking the sweet spot as the most ideal outlook based on token utility and future global adoption. 

Utilizing the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) approach, the basic assumption taken was that Ripple would handle a large portion of global transactions in the next 10 years, generating fees on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and possibly tokenizing a substantial portion of global wealth, while replacing traditional remittance systems likes SWIFT. The valuation analysis was carried out based on the following data: 

• 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 a perfect world for Ripple Labs and XRP, where the XRP ledger becomes the bedrock of the global financial remittance system, the XRP army would have the wealth to go to war with any independent nation (pun intended).

Jokes aside, taking the model at face value in 2025, Cointelegraph analyzed if the expected adoption rate is progressing as predicted. 

Fact-checking XRP rumors and reality

As of Feb. 28, 2025, there is no official confirmation from any authoritative source that XRP has been fully incorporated by a US bank for cross-border payments or internal transactions.

RippleNet, Ripple’s global payments network, has been linked with multiple US banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citigroup but officially, only PNC Bank and Bank of America have definitive evidence-based partnerships.

Regarding Bank of America (BofA), one clip that went viral on X includes Sound Planning Group CEO David Stryzewski stating that the financial institution has been utilizing RippleNet and XRP for “100% of its internal transactions” for two years. However, the inconsistency in data is bluntly evident. The average daily internal transactions carried out by a financial institution of BofA size is around 1.2 to 1.5 million. 

XRPL has not managed transactional operations of that size for any two years since 2018. Stryzewkski also mentioned that XRP was the second largest crypto asset before the SEC filed its securities case against Ripple on Dec. 22, 2020. The last time XRP was above Ethereum based on market capitalization was in January 2019, almost two years before 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 approved using XRP for settling credit card and loan payments, which Rick Lange, a certified financial planner, extensively spoke about on LinkedIn. However, Vittorio DiBenedetto, a Wells Fargo employee, left a comment in January 2025, stating, 

“Not true. Why spread fake news?”

Will XRP and Ripple take over legacy payment systems?

To be fair, XRP price has performed well over the past 12 months and there are reasons to be optimistic. Cointelegraph has extensively reported on multiple spot XRP ETFs filed by various fund managers in February, indicating potential upside for XRP in the future.

However, regarding XRP’s adoption and its goal of becoming the cash flow value pipeline of the world, RippleNet and XRP are nowhere close to the projections made in the white paper. The probability of XRP being worth $18,036 by 2030 is infinitesimally small.  

Related: Why is XRP price down today?

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.