Wells Fargo and the future of the crypto Ripple (XRP): on track to $500?

Recently, prospects of $500 value for the crypto Ripple (XRP) were confirmed by Wells Fargo, one of the top multinational financial institutions, within two to seven months. 

See below for all the details. 

A growth potential for the crypto Ripple in the short term: predictions by Wells Fargo 

As anticipated, after an initial victory for Ripple in a long three-year legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), positive forecasts for XRP have exploded. 

Specifically, an important and optimistic forecast comes from Shannon Thorp, Business Development Manager at Wells Fargo, who suggested on X, via a tweet, that XRP could potentially reach $500.

Thorpe supported her bold claim by referring to the Bank of England’s “Cross Border Payments” 2023 report. This report predicts that the cross-border payments industry will reach an extraordinary market capitalization of $250 trillion by 2027. 

As a result, Thorp argues that an XRP price of $500 would be better suited to support such a large market, stating that “a price of $500 for XRP simply does not seem sufficient to sustain such an amount.”

Moreover, Thorp is not the only one to advocate triple-digit prospects for XRP. In fact, another analyst known as XRP Captain on the X platform predicts that this cryptocurrency could reach $130 in 2024, attributing this prediction to a triangular pattern highlighted in the XRP chart.

Thorp’s outlook on XRP: from the 2023 forecast to the possible 2027 scenario

It should be noted that this is not the first time Thorp has offered XRP price forecasts. Initially, he had made an optimistic forecast for 30 July 2023. 

In that detailed post, he had suggested that even a modest 10% share of cross-border transactions, which are currently dominated by banks such as JP Morgan, could generate a turnover of about $800 billion. 

Consequently, he had pointed out that “A value of 1.00 dollars would not be enough to handle a flow of money of this magnitude.”

In addition, Thorp explained the market dynamics in terms of liquidity and supply, emphasizing that it all comes down to LS (Liquidity and Supply). 

He illustrated that if XRP reached $100 with supply limited to, say, 50 billion units, this would result in an LS of $5 trillion. 

At $500, the LS would rise to $25 trillion. This would have the advantage of providing more flexibility to the market and ensuring that it is not necessary to own huge amounts of XRP to conduct day-to-day operations.

That said, Thorp positioned the price of XRP in a range of $100 to $500, without providing a specific timetable, emphasizing that “when” and “how” are inherently related concepts. 

Therefore, his latest forecast only reinforces his earlier predictions, indicating a possible reach by 2027.

Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse: optimism and growth outside the US

In an interview during TOKEN2049, Asia’s largest cryptocurrency event, the CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, addressed the ongoing legal dispute between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

Specifically, Garlinghouse pointed out that although Ripple has already spent over $100 million in legal fees, he has optimism about winning the case.

In addition, he explained how regulatory issues in the United States have prompted Ripple to seek talent elsewhere. The company plans to make more than 80% of its new hires in more crypto-friendly jurisdictions, such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, and the United Kingdom, where governments cooperate with the industry, set clear rules, and promote growth.

Also, commenting on SEC head Gary Gensler‘s remarks at the Senate on 12 September, during which he stepped up regulatory efforts in the cryptocurrency sector, describing the industry as ‘so full of misconduct’ and ‘disheartening,’ Ripple’s SEC criticized his testimony: 

“One of the definitions of madness is to constantly repeat the same action and expect a different result. Gary Gensler seems to see every problem as a nail, but not everything can be solved with the simple registration request, since not all cryptocurrencies fall into the category of securities according to the law.”

At the same time, two SEC commissioners, Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda, issued a statement expressing their disagreement with the commission’s action against the developers of the non-fungible token (NFT) collection called Stoner Cats. 

In fact, they compared NFTs to Star Wars collectibles and stressed the importance of preserving the freedom of artists in their creative process.