Will buying Ripple (XRP) at $1.40 make you rich? The 5-year outlook

▲ Ripple (XRP) ©Godasol

While XRP (Ripple) has plunged over 60% from its peak last year, and there has been talk of its potential to rise to $5-$10, surpassing its all-time high, an assessment suggests it's difficult to expect “life-changing” levels of profit from its current price.

According to investment media outlet The Motley Fool on September 12 (local time), XRP, which recorded $3.65 last July, has significantly dropped and recently traded at around $1.40. As of September 8, its market capitalization was $89 billion, ranking 5th in the cryptocurrency market, but its price has fallen by 52% over the past year. During the same period, Bitcoin (BTC) fell 29%, Ethereum (ETH) 42%, and BNB (BNB) 16%, indicating that XRP's decline was greater than that of other top-market-cap cryptocurrencies.

Despite the price sluggishness, positive developments surrounding Ripple continued. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple concluded a legal dispute lasting approximately five years in August 2025, and a few months later, the SEC approved the first spot XRP ETF. Since its launch, the spot XRP ETF set a record of no net outflows for 35 consecutive trading days. This is a trend that Bitcoin spot ETFs and Ethereum spot ETFs failed to achieve in their early stages.

The expansion of the Real-World Asset (RWA) market on the XRP Ledger was also cited as a new growth driver. Approximately $460 million in tokenized RWAs, including U.S. Treasury bonds and corporate bonds, are circulating on the XRP Ledger, making it the 10th largest among related blockchains. Currently, Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Solana (SOL) lead the RWA market, but analysis suggests that if the XRP Ledger expands its market share, it could become another use case following Ripple's payment network.

The Motley Fool assessed that if the cryptocurrency market recovery continues, there is room to expect investment returns from XRP at its current price. XRP traded between $2 and $3.65 for most of 2025, and even recovering just the lower end of this range, $2, would represent an increase of over 40% from current levels. However, it noted that further gains would require an actual increase in utility. Key conditions mentioned were financial institutions using Ripple's payment network to utilize XRP more for international payments, or the XRP Ledger attracting more RWAs.

The outlet suggested that if XRP embarks on another strong rally, it could break $4 and set a new all-time high, and in a very optimistic scenario, it could trade between $5 and $10 within the next five years. However, even in this case, while high returns relative to the current price are possible, it pointed out that it's difficult to expect results significant enough to make an investor rich if the initial investment is not substantial. It specifically emphasized that these projections themselves represent a bullish scenario, and a cautious approach is needed given the risk of XRP underperforming the market or its value declining.

*Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only and we are not responsible for any investment losses based on it. The content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.*