The Best Cryptocurrency to Buy With $50 Right Now

XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), the native token of the XRP Ledger, lost more than 40% of its value over the past 12 months. It's still a speculative altcoin that could stay volatile for the foreseeable future, but it might be worth a modest $50 bet right now for a few simple reasons.

What is XRP?

The founders of Ripple Labs, a fintech company that specializes in blockchain-based payments, launched XRP in 2012 after pre-minting its entire supply of 100 billion tokens. It can't be actively mined like Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) or staked like Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).

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Instead, XRP is mainly used as a bridge currency to accelerate transactions across Ripple's network as a faster alternative to traditional SWIFT transfers. In 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Ripple for selling its own XRP tokens -- allegedly as unlicensed securities -- to fund its own expansion. That lawsuit caused Ripple to lose many of its top customers and drove the top crypto exchanges to delist XRP.

Why is XRP worth buying again?

Last August, the SEC lawsuit finally concluded with a lighter-than-expected fine for Ripple. The court also ruled that it wasn't an unlicensed security when purchased by retail investors. That ruling prompted major crypto exchanges to relist XRP, and the first spot price exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for XRP were approved and launched in late 2025.

Moreover, Ripple recently submitted its application for a U.S. bank charter, and its expansion into a full-fledged bank could support increased use of XRP as a bridge currency. Ripple has already been using XRP as a bridge currency to support cross-border transactions for its own stablecoin, Ripple USD (CRYPTO: RLUSD), which was launched in late 2024.

The XRP Ledger has also launched a sidechain compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) for developing decentralized apps (dApps). Those connections could support the usage of XRP in more decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.

The broader cryptocurrency market, which was throttled by stubbornly high Treasury yields and other macro headwinds over the past year, could also recover over the next few months. When that happens, more investors should rotate back into riskier assets, such as XRP.

A $50 investment in XRP's earliest trade in 2013 would still be worth nearly $14,700 today. I doubt it can replicate those massive gains over the next decade as the altcoin market tightens up, but it could be a smart place to park a few dollars if a new crypto summer begins.

Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.