XRP could rise about 200% from its current level by year’s end, according to Standard Chartered, which initiated coverage of the asset on Tuesday. 

 The native token of the XRP Ledger and fourth-largest crypto by market value could hit $5.50 a piece by the end of 2025, the bank’s digital assets researcher Geoff Kendrick said in a note. XRP is a decentralized open-source blockchain created by the founders of Ripple Labs. 

XRP was recently trading for $1.80, according to CoinGecko, after dropping in price by 6% over a 24-hour period. 

“We think XRP price gains can keep pace with Bitcoin in real terms,” wrote Kendrick, adding that XRP is “uniquely positioned at the heart of one of the fastest-growing uses for digital assets—facilitation of cross-border and cross-currency payments.”

Kendrick added in the note that XRP could hit $12.50 before President Trump leaves office.

XRP was created by the founders of fintech company Ripple Labs, which focuses on moving money across borders in a faster, more efficient way.

Ripple has become closely associated with the tough regulatory crackdown of the Biden Administration from 2020-2024. The SEC under ex-Chair Gary Gensler went hard after major crypto companies, including Ripple. 

In 2020, the financial watchdog sued the fintech, alleging it had sold unregistered securities in the form of XRP.

But a federal district judge in 2023 wrote in a partial ruling that programmatic sales of XRP to retail investors did not qualify as securities, which was primarily interpreted as a win by the crypto community. 

The Ripple team now appears to be close with the Trump Administration and is hoping a slew of XRP-related ETFs get the green light under the SEC’s new crypto-friendly leadership. 

XRP hit an all-time high back in 2018 of $3.40 and came close to that level again in January ahead of President Trump’s inauguration, briefly touching $3.38. 

On Tuesday, Ripple announced that it was acquiring crypto-friendly prime brokerage Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, marking one of the largest deals in the crypto industry's history.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair and James Rubin