2 Bullish Signals for XRP

If you're an XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) investor, it's time to start getting nervous. After hitting a 52-week high of $3.65 in mid-July, XRP is now down more than 25% and currently trades at about $2.68.

But there are two bullish signals on the horizon for XRP. Both of them could send this popular cryptocurrency soaring during the final months of the year and into 2026.

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1. New spot XRP ETFs

Since the start of the year, XRP investors have been eagerly awaiting the rollout of new spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Six different investment firms have already submitted spot XRP ETF applications to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and a final decision on the status of these applications was due in October.

However, that timing is now very much in doubt, due to the federal government shutdown. Any ETF approvals will have to wait until the government opens back up for business. That's what has investors on tenterhooks right now -- nobody really knows when that might happen, or what the crypto market might look like when it does.

When the new ETFs launch, they are expected to unlock a tsunami of new institutional money. The early thinking was that they might unlock as much as $8 billion in new money, all of which could help to send XRP higher.

That initial estimate might be a bit too optimistic, but it is clear that there is institutional investor appetite for these ETFs. According to recent data from CoinShares (which is among the firms planning to launch a spot XRP ETF), nearly $2 billion has already flowed into XRP since the start of the year. During the most recent reporting period (Oct. 20), nearly $75 million flowed into XRP in a single week.

2. New XRP treasury companies

The other interesting development that could push XRP higher involves the launch of new XRP treasury companies that are designed to do just one thing: buy and hold XRP. This summer saw the launch of the first-ever publicly traded XRP treasury company: VivoPower International (NASDAQ: VVPR). Since then, other publicly traded companies have announced their intentions to buy and hold XRP.

Admittedly, all of these are relatively small companies, and may not move the needle when it comes to the price of XRP. For example, the current market cap of VivoPower International is just $48 million. By way of comparison, the total market cap of XRP is almost $160 billion.

That's why I'm excited about the recent launch of Evernorth, a pure play XRP treasury company that is backed by Ripple, the company behind the XRP coin, as well as one of the co-founders of Ripple. The company has secured $1 billion in commitments from outside investors, and plans to go on a major XRP buying binge with that war chest.

In a best-case scenario, the arrival of Evernorth will encourage other companies to embrace the XRP treasury company model. Just as the success of Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) encouraged other companies to accumulate Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), the success of Evernorth might encourage other companies to accumulate XRP.

Is $12.50 still a reasonable price target for XRP?

In April, Standard Chartered predicted that XRP would hit a price of $5.50 by the end of this year, and $12.50 by the end of 2028. That now looks highly unlikely to happen. It would require XRP to more than double in value within the span of the next two months, and then double once again between 2026 and 2028.

To be sure, a future price target of $12.50 is not entirely out of reach. It's based on the assumption of greater adoption of XRP as a global payment network by banks and other financial institutions. For more than a year, XRP bulls have been predicting that XRP's blockchain technology could eventually replace parts of the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) payment network, which runs on 50-year-old legacy technology.

For that reason, I'm keeping my eyes on what's happening with SWIFT right now. Blockchain integration trials launched last month, and more are expected in the months ahead as SWIFT looks for a way to modernize itself for the future. If XRP can somehow become a major player in the future of cross-border payments, then the sky's the limit.

But just keep in mind: in more than a decade, XRP has never once cleared the $4 price level. So keep your expectations in check. XRP certainly has upside potential, but perhaps not as much as all the hype and buzz around it might lead you to think.

Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin and XRP. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.