Is XRP a Millionaire-Maker?

XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) is a favorite play among investors looking to get rich, but it probably shouldn't be. Given its market cap of $62 billion and its price of $1.04, turning a $10,000 stake in XRP into seven figures of wealth would require the coin to reach roughly $104, putting its market cap above $6 trillion. That's larger than the combined market cap of every other cryptocurrency, and it almost certainly won't happen.

So, with that in mind, let's turn to a more realistic question, namely, whether XRP could still be a good tool for long-term wealth building.

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The mechanics for getting a return aren't great here

As you probably know, transactions on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) burn a sliver of XRP for every transaction as a fee. About 14 million XRP have been destroyed in this way since the chain's launch in 2012, or about 0.014% of its maximum supply as of Q1 2026.

Unfortunately, that mechanism is nearly the entirety of XRP's ability to capture value for its holders. The only other mechanism is by the network's reserve requirements, which necessitate each wallet address holding at least 1 XRP, plus 0.2 XRP more for each object held in the wallet. That makes it very hard to believe that there will ever be enough users or activity on the XRPL to meaningfully reduce the asset's float and force its price up for those who hold XRP.

Nonetheless, activity on the chain is growing. Tokenized real world asset (RWA) value rose 124% quarter-over-quarter in Q1 of 2026, and the volume of daily transactions is currently near 2.5 million.

None of that constrains the coin's supply, even if it's a positive development for the chain's health. Even a 100-fold activity surge would burn under a quarter percent of the supply yearly, and Ripple, XRP's issuer, unlocks 1 billion XRP from escrow each month. Even after relocking 60% to 80% of the XRP released, the net supply addition still swamps the cumulative burns.

So why hold any?

So, at the moment, there isn't a strong case for holding XRP for wealth building, nor is it a millionaire-maker. But it could still gain in value if, on average, investors overlook its tokenomics issues, and there is at least a little bit of evidence that's happening.

Spot XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have pulled in $1.4 billion since their November 2025 launch, and, surprisingly, despite the ongoing crypto bear market, the ETFs have continued to see net capital inflows over time rather than outflows. If that trend continues, it could eventually support higher prices.

The coin might also get a big boost if the Clarity Act, which is working its way through Congress, is passed sometime this year. That's not exactly an investment thesis for buying XRP, though.

Overall, it's getting harder to argue for owning XRP at all.

Alex Carchidi has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.