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Standard Chartered’s Bullish Outlook on XRP
Standard Chartered has set an ambitious target for XRP, projecting that its price could soar to $12.50 by the close of 2028. This represents a potential increase of 500% from its current valuation. The bank’s forecast hinges on several key factors, including enhanced regulatory clarity, broader adoption of the cryptocurrency, and its increasing utilization in payments and tokenization processes. Geoffrey Kendrick, the bank’s global head of digital assets research, detailed a phased growth trajectory for XRP, anticipating prices of $5.50 in 2025, $8.00 in 2026, and $10.40 in 2027.
One of the main drivers behind this bullish prediction is the expected approval of a spot XRP ETF in the United States, anticipated within the third quarter of 2025. Kendrick projects that such an approval could catalyze inflows of $4 to $8 billion in the first year alone. These expectations align with similar forecasts from JPMorgan, reflecting growing optimism surrounding XRP’s potential. Significantly, its primary function in facilitating international cross-border and cross-currency payments is expected to amplify its value, particularly as transaction volumes for stablecoins are projected to increase dramatically in the coming four years.
The XRP Ledger (XRPL), which underpins XRP, is specifically designed for payment processing. Kendrick suggests that XRPL may also play an essential role in the tokenization space, drawing comparisons to Stellar in terms of its structure and capabilities. Ripple, the company behind XRP, has further strengthened its position with recent initiatives, including the development of a fund backed by the U.S. Treasury and the introduction of its RLUSD stablecoin.
The conclusion of Ripple’s legal dispute with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has removed a significant barrier to growth. The SEC recently dropped its appeal following a $50 million settlement with Ripple, in which the company did not admit to any wrongdoing. Kendrick indicated that the resolution of this legal issue was anticipated, particularly with recent shifts in U.S. political leadership.
However, despite these positive developments, XRP’s market performance has been somewhat lackluster. In response to the ETF news, XRP’s price dropped approximately 4%. The ETF in question does not directly hold XRP, instead utilizing swap agreements to track its price, potentially explaining the tepid reaction from investors.
Challenges still persist for XRP. Kendrick highlighted the cryptocurrency’s low-fee structure and its relatively smaller developer ecosystem as potential limitations in capturing value when compared to other larger assets. Nevertheless, he maintains that growing adoption and institutional support could mitigate these risks.
Currently, XRP ranks as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Kendrick envisions that by 2028, XRP could surpass Ethereum, positioning itself as the second-largest non-stablecoin digital asset. Additionally, he made a bold prediction for Bitcoin, speculating that it could reach $500,000 by 2029, with XRP potentially outperforming it in terms of relative gains.
In other market assessments, Kendrick has revised Ethereum’s price target for 2025 downward from $10,000 to $4,000, while also forecasting that Avalanche (AVAX) could reach $250 by the year 2029.
Source
finance.yahoo.com