Ripple Is Underperforming Everything. Is XRP Still the Smartest Crypto Buy Right Now?

Ripple (CRYPTO: XRP) was the talk of the town in 2024. That year, XRP's price skyrocketed by nearly 250%. In 2025, things cooled down a bit, with Ripple's price falling by roughly 20%. So far in 2026, however, the bleeding has continued. Year to date, the crypto asset has lost around 22%.

In total, XRP's price is down roughly 44% in just 12 months. Yet the project has been making some serious moves to boost its protocol's potential. Sentiment analysis tools from Binance, meanwhile, suggest that investors are still very bullish on XRP's long-term upside.

Has the latest price plunge made Ripple a compelling long-term buy? Or is the latest dip a sign of more trouble ahead? The answer may surprise you.

Ripple is now 44% cheaper. Time to buy?

Ripple's total market cap is now down to around $88 billion. Last summer, Ripple had a valuation above $200 billion.

From a sheer value perspective, Ripple is a lot cheaper today than it was less than one year ago. And when you look at the fundamentals, things have improved considerably for the company over that period. Crypto regulations are largely heading in the right direction in terms of both clarity and industry friendliness. Several new pieces of legislation could bring significant institutional money into crypto assets like Ripple -- an evolution crypto bulls have long dreamed of.

Ripple has also made notable strides in building out an ecosystem of interconnected financial products rather than a single, siloed solution designed solely for cross-border transactions.

Image source: Getty Images

On the surface, Ripple appears to have improved the value of its protocol even while its token price has collapsed. But here's the problem: It's very difficult to estimate how much Ripple is worth today or will be worth years or decades from now. The fact that established payment protocols like SWIFT handle trillions of dollars in daily transaction volumes suggests that, if Ripple succeeds, its potential could be enormous.

Still, putting a value on Ripple's expanded ecosystem while assessing its odds of success is difficult. Many factors are at play, many of which are ultimately outside Ripple's control, such as institutional adoption.

Here's what we do know: Actual adoption of Ripple's technology remains relatively low. Based on current adoption, Ripple should be worth far less than its current $88 billion valuation. Based on its potential, however, Ripple could arguably be severely undervalued.

The future of Ripple remains very uncertain. Therefore, it's understandable that the project's valuation can swing wildly in the short term. Buying into Ripple will always be a very speculative endeavor, despite the project's potential.

Ryan Vanzo 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.