A new wave of debate is sweeping through cryptocurrency circles, with some analysts suggesting that XRP could one day trade at $20,000 per coin.
Currently, the price is close to $2, which would mean a jump of 10,000 times from current levels. According to reports, the idea emerged in 2022 when game developer and XRP supporter Chad Steingraber presented a plan that relied on large banks and tokenized assets. Now, this bold prediction has resurfaced on the social platform X, generating new discussions about the future of this digital token.
According to Steingraber, the first step involves the issuance of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies on the XRP Ledger. Every time a new token is launched there, XRP would be needed to settle transactions, which could increase daily demand. Currently, only a few tokens are on the XRP chain, but he predicts that this number will grow to hundreds. If up to 100 new coins adopt settlements in XRP, demand could increase by billions of dollars each year.
The second driver would be banks treating XRP as a reserve asset. Instead of just trading it on public exchanges, financial institutions would store XRP in private ledgers to back their own digital currencies. Steingraber points out that 'many institutions' already plan to include XRP in their reserves. If each of these companies holds hundreds of millions of dollars in XRP, this could remove a large part of the supply from open markets.
The total supply of XRP is limited to 100 billion. However, Steingraber states that around 20 billion tokens remain in public hands after accounting for locks, burns, and lost keys. If large institutions lock up most of this, circulation could drop to less than 100 million, setting the stage for a classic supply shock. He even predicts that prices could soar from cents to thousands of dollars within hours as companies enter the market.
