Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD, continues to grow quickly, but most XRP proponents still question how this growth helps XRP. 

For context, nearly a year after its launch, RLUSD now has a market value of about $1.335 billion, placing it among the top stablecoins. Despite this, discussions have emerged over whether RLUSD can drive real demand for XRP.

Amid these talks, Xaif, an XRP community member, shared an explanation from ChatGPT. The community member asked how RLUSD could benefit XRP, and ChatGPT presented a scenario where RLUSD acts as a stable entry point for institutions that want to buy XRP.

How RLUSD Could Hypothetically Benefit XRP

The chatbot explained that banks could use RLUSD instead of traditional dollars when purchasing XRP. Because RLUSD stays tied to the U.S. dollar, it removes price swings during transactions. 

This stability would allow institutions to place very large buy orders with greater confidence. As banks use RLUSD to buy XRP on exchanges, these purchases absorb lower-priced sell orders in the market.

Once buyers clear those cheaper sell orders, XRP’s price would move up to higher levels in the order book. ChatGPT noted that this process can push prices higher very quickly, especially when large orders hit the market. 

ChatGPT then used a hypothetical instance. In the example, a bank converts $1 billion into RLUSD and holds it on a Ripple-supported platform. The bank then uses that RLUSD to buy XRP. If sellers offer XRP at $0.50, $1.00, and $5.00, a large purchase would quickly remove the lower-priced supply. 

After that, XRP would begin trading closer to $5.00 or higher. The bank would then use XRP for cross-border payments, while RLUSD continues to serve as the stable funding tool.

ChatGPT stressed that RLUSD could support XRP by speeding up transactions, improving liquidity for large trades, and reducing exposure to currency fluctuations. Reacting to this, Xaif suggested that this could be how the RLUSD “dramatically” increases XRP’s price.

XRP Price if 10 Banks Deposit $10B Into RLUSD

To assess a larger outcome, we asked Google Gemini to evaluate what could happen if 10 banks deposit a combined $10 billion into RLUSD. Gemini called this a bullish but theoretical situation and suggested XRP could trade between $5.00 and $12.00 if such inflows occur.

According to Gemini, RLUSD and XRP work together within Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity system. It then called attention to a multiplier effect, where institutional inflows often increase a cryptocurrency’s market value by several times. 

With a conservative multiplier of 20x to 50x, Gemini estimated that a $10 billion RLUSD base could support a $200 billion to $500 billion increase in XRP’s market cap. At current supply levels, that growth would push XRP beyond its previous high of $3.84 and place it in the $5.00 to $8.00 range.

Gemini then highlighted a higher-demand scenario where banks actively use RLUSD and XRP for cross-border settlements rather than holding RLUSD idle. In such a setup, the chatbot noted that some analysts expect XRP to reach between $10.00 and $12.50.

Despite the positive outlook, Gemini pointed out that these estimates remain speculative. Notably, XRP’s price will still depend on overall market conditions, Bitcoin’s performance, and regulatory developments.

The XRP community now explores the possibility of the IMF integrating XRP into its SDR baskets, a move that could positively impact XRP’s price.

For the uninitiated, Special Drawing Rights (SDR) act as an international reserve asset created by the IMF to support its member countries. Instead of relying on one currency, the SDR gets its value from a group of major global currencies, reducing reliance on a single economy.

Composition and Use of IMF’s SDR Baskets

The current SDR basket includes five currencies: the US dollar, euro, Chinese renminbi, Japanese yen, and British pound. Notably, the IMF reviews the basket every five years, and the present structure took effect in 2022. As a result, the next review is expected around 2027.

Right now, the US dollar makes up about 44% of the basket. The euro follows with roughly 30%, while the Chinese renminbi holds around 11%. Meanwhile, the Japanese yen accounts for about 8%, and the British pound represents roughly 7%. 

Central banks hold SDRs to boost liquidity, especially during financial stress or balance-of-payments challenges. The IMF allocates SDRs based on country quotas, and nations keep them alongside reserves such as foreign currencies and gold. 

Could XRP Secure an Inclusion?

Some XRP community members believe the IMF could one day expand the SDR framework to include a crypto asset like XRP, especially if it launches a digital or electronic version of the SDR, called an e-SDR. 

However, current IMF rules limit inclusion to fiat currencies issued by major exporting countries that see wide use in global payments and foreign exchange markets. XRP does not currently meet these requirements.

For XRP to qualify, the IMF would need to change its rules during an official SDR review. Specifically, the Executive Board would have to approve broader criteria that allow non-fiat assets. The IMF would likely review XRP’s liquidity, global usage, price stability, and regulatory standing. 

Worth of 10,000 XRP if IMF Integrates XRP Into SDR Baskets

Despite these obstacles and the low chances, the development could positively impact the XRP price if it played out. To assess this, we asked Google Gemini, an AI chatbot, to estimate how XRP’s price could move over three years if the IMF integrated it into the SDR system.

In response, Google Gemini noted that the IMF would likely use XRP as a fast settlement bridge for international liquidity rather than add it for symbolic reasons.

With this, central banks would need to hold XRP to settle obligations and manage reserves. Gemini stressed that XRP’s price would need to rise significantly to support the trillions, and possibly quadrillions, of dollars involved in global settlements without disrupting markets.

Assuming an extremely bullish outcome where the IMF adopts XRP as a reserve asset by 2028, Google Gemini outlined a three-year price path. In the first year, Gemini projected a range between $15 and $35. 

In the second year, Gemini forecast prices between $50 and $150 as the IMF begins using the XRP Ledger to link national digital currencies. By the third year, Gemini projected a potential range of $250 to $500.

If these predictions materialize, especially the third-year range of $250 to $500, investors holding substantial amounts of XRP could see their holdings skyrocket to new heights. Notably, those holding 10,000 XRP tokens, currently worth around $19,000, would see their balance rise to a range of $2.5 million to $5 million if XRP hits $250 to $500.

Top global bank Standard Chartered has presented its XRP price predictions for 2026, 2027, and 2028, highlighting factors that could contribute to price growth.

After a turbulent 2025, XRP has begun the new year with an impressive push alongside the rest of the crypto market. For perspective, XRP closed last year with an 11.54% decline despite spiking nearly 46% in the first month of the year. Notably, the bearish performance from Q4 2025 erased all the early gains and led to XRP’s first annual loss since 2022.

Standard Chartered Sets XRP Price Prediction for 2026

However, this new year, the crypto asset appears to have recovered all the losses from 2025, up 15.48% within just four days. Importantly, XRP has since recovered the $2 psychological level, now trading for $2.12. This aligns with predictions from Standard Chartered, which suggested that XRP could perform exceptionally well in 2026.

In an official release, Geoffrey Kendrick, the Head of Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered, and other analysts suggested that XRP could soar to a new all-time high price of $8 in 2026. With the XRP price now trading for $2.12, this would translate to an increase of 277% from the current position.

While this target could be underwhelming for some investors anticipating two-digit prices, it still represents an impressive gain for XRP, especially if the crypto token maintains values around $8 by the end of the year. For context, the last time XRP saw an annual gain of around 277% was during the 2021 bull run, when it rallied from $0.21 to $0.83 despite battling the U.S. SEC.

Interestingly, other market analysts have also eyed the $8 price for XRP this year. For context, The Great Mattsby, a market commentator, recently spotlighted a November 2025 prediction from “The Charting Guy,” suggesting that XRP could be heading toward $8. According to The Great Mattsby, this forecast “is true,” implying that the target remains intact this year.

XRP Price Predictions for 2027 and 2028

Meanwhile, the Standard Chartered analysts also presented XRP price predictions for subsequent years beyond 2026, confirming that they expect the altcoin to maintain its gains for two more years. 

Specifically, Standard Chartered predicted an XRP rally to $10.4 by 2027, a year from now. Notably, the $10 target has remained a recurrent theme within the XRP community, with analyst Alex Clay projecting as far back as December 2024 that XRP could hit this price. However, Alpha Lions Academy CEO Edoardo Farina believes XRP investors who sell at $10 would regret their decision.

For the year 2028, Standard Chartered believes XRP has the potential to rally further to $12.5, representing a 489% increase from the current price. Just last month, analyst EGRAG Crypto insisted that higher targets like $12 do not look crazy, citing XRP’s fractal structure.

Importantly, Standard Chartered based its predictions on several bullish developments surrounding XRP. For one, Kendrick called attention to the end of the SEC lawsuit in August 2025, which removed all the legal setbacks XRP faced. Moreover, he spotlighted institutional adoption, which has materialized in the form of XRP ETFs. Notably, these products, which launched in November 2025, have now scooped up $1.18 billion in net inflows.

Widely followed technical analyst Charting Guy says XRP is now “following perfectly,” just as he predicted months ago.

He shared a chart showing that XRP’s recent price action matches a Wyckoff reaccumulation pattern, which occurs when a price remains mostly flat for an extended period before making a strong upward move.

Prediction Made Months in Advance

Back in November 2025, Charting Guy published a similar chart, describing XRP’s price action as a year-long reaccumulation phase. At the time, price movement was slow, choppy, and frustrating for many holders.

He noted that the process would test investors’ patience, create false breakdowns, and push many traders to sell out of boredom. According to the analyst, that pressure phase has now fully played out.

In his latest post, Charting Guy noted that XRP respected key Wyckoff levels almost step by step. It traded sideways for most of 2025, experienced several shakeouts that pushed out weak holders, and then formed a final “spring” followed by a successful retest.

After that came a clean breakout, known as a Jump Across the Creek (JATC). This suggests XRP has moved from accumulation into a stronger upward phase, where price gains become more noticeable.

Notably, this analysis comes as XRP has reclaimed the $2 level, establishing support after approaching the $2.20 region. XRP now boasts a weekly gain of 14%, one of the strongest performances among major cryptocurrencies.

“Testing Everyone’s Patience”

The analyst emphasized that the hardest part of the cycle wasn’t volatility, but boredom.

XRP spent half a year moving sideways, causing many traders to abandon their positions. It dipped roughly 50% from its $3.66 peak since July 2025, with some even predicting a drop to the $1 level.

Now, with XRP showing strength and holding above prior resistance levels, the technical picture looks very different from just a few months ago.

$8 Target Remains for XRP

Charting Guy suggests XRP could target the $8 level by mid-2026, representing nearly a 4x increase from current prices. This $8 target has been part of his outlook since at least 2024. While it has taken time to materialize, he continues to maintain the projection.

Just two days ago, analyst Matt Hughes expressed agreement with the view that XRP is still headed toward $8.

Notably, Charting Guy originally based this prediction on a multi-year bullish structure forming since 2023, during which XRP has repeatedly consolidated before strong upside breakouts. Past patterns include a late-2024 surge that pushed XRP to $3.66 in 2025 after a roughly 600% rally.

The $8 target remains unchanged due to historical price behavior, Fibonacci extensions (the 1.272 level), and expectations of a new impulsive move.

Other analysts have echoed this view, with some suggesting even higher long-term targets, though $8 remains the primary focus for now.