Is XRP a Millionaire-Maker? Here's What Has to Go Right

If you invested $10,000 in XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), the native token of the XRP Ledger, on its earliest trade at $0.006 in 2013, you'd have $2.35 million today. But could this volatile altcoin churn out even more millionaire-making gains from a fresh $10,000 investment today?

XRP overcame its biggest challenges

The founders of Ripple Labs, a fintech company specializing its blockchain-based payments, created XRP in 2012. They pre-minted its entire supply of 100 billion tokens before its launch, and it can't be mined like Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) or staked like Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).

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XRP was primarily used as a "bridge currency" on Ripple, enabling the direct conversion of two fiat currencies into XRP to expedite cross-border transfers. It claimed this approach was cheaper, faster, and more secure than conventional SWIFT transfers.

But in 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Ripple for selling its own XRP holdings to raise capital. The SEC argued that Ripple was selling unregistered securities, and it lost several of its top customers as the top crypto exchanges delisted XRP.

Last August, the SEC lawsuit concluded with a lighter-than-expected fine for Ripple, and the judge ruled that XRP wasn't an unregistered security when sold to retail investors on public exchanges. As those regulatory headwinds dissipated, the top crypto exchanges relisted XRP. The SEC also cleared its first spot price ETFs for trading in late 2025.

But does XRP have enough long-term catalysts?

XRP became more appealing after the SEC backed off, but its critics say it lacks sufficient long-term catalysts to propel it higher.

The first significant problem is the rise of stablecoins, including Ripple's own Ripple USD (CRYPTO: RLUSD), which are pegged to the U.S dollar. Stablecoins can be directly used to settle cross-border fiat currency transactions without using XRP as a bridge currency.

Another issue is that XRP isn't useful for developers. The XRP Ledger doesn't natively support smart contracts, which are used to develop decentralized apps and other crypto assets. It recently added Ethereum-compatible sidechains to its ledger to support more applications, but it won't ever become a major developer platform like Ethereum or Solana (CRYPTO: SOL).

On the bright side, Ripple's application for a U.S. bank charter and its potential expansion into a broader financial services platform could support the usage of XRP for more transactions. Its new ETFs could also attract more institutional investors once the crypto winter finally ends.

However, it would be tough for XRP to turn $10,000 into $1,000,000 again. That 9,900% gain would boost its market cap to $8.5 trillion, compared to Bitcoin's current valuation of $1.3 trillion. I personally don't think that will happen, but if XRP overcomes its most significant challenges and throws more irons into the fire, it might still deliver multibagger gains over the next few years.

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