XRP could reach the three-digit price region if it claimed a market cap that matches 40% of gold’s valuation. 

The crypto market has entered another consolidation phase, expectedly to drag XRP into a range-bound price action. Following a major collapse stemming from the Israel-Iran conflict, XRP has steadied below the $2.2 level but remains above $2.

XRP Sees Bullish Predictions Amid Consolidation

With XRP currently trading for $2.16, boasting a market cap of $127.5 billion, several voices in the community insist that the asset is highly undervalued. Most of these individuals cite XRP’s growing utility in payments, as it offers a cheaper and faster alternative to legacy systems.

These voices have championed ambitious price targets for XRP, ranging from two digits to three digits. For instance, in April, analyst Cryptominder suggested that XRP could surge to $50 in the next five years. Meanwhile, market commentator BarriC believes XRP could reach $100 sooner. 

However, these ambitious projections have been met with extreme skepticism among most investors, considering the market cap implications. Amid this difference in opinion, The Crypto Basic recently assessed how high XRP price could get if its market cap matched a fraction of gold’s valuation over the next 15 years, specifically in 2040.

XRP Price if It Matches 40% of Gold’s Market Cap by 2040

Notably, gold boasts a massive market cap of $23.185 trillion, making it the largest asset by valuation globally. If XRP’s market cap reflected just 40% of this valuation, XRP would have a market cap of $9.274 trillion. This is larger than the valuation of Bitcoin at $2 trillion, as well as the global crypto market cap now at $3.28 trillion.

As highlighted earlier, XRP currently has a market cap of $127.5 billion, requiring a 7,173% increase to reach the $9.274 trillion valuation. Interestingly, this translates to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35%. This indicates that the XRP market cap would need to grow 35% each year to reach the $9.274 trillion mark in the next 15 years.

Meanwhile, with 58.88 billion XRP tokens currently in circulation, the price of XRP would surge to $157 at the $9.274 trillion market cap. Notably, this $157 price by 2040 aligns with predictions from Telegaon. Analysts at the crypto platform predict XRP to trade at a maximum price of $160.34 by 2040. 

Meanwhile, according to previous reports from The Crypto Basic, AI chatbot ChatGPT believes XRP could trade at a much lower valuation of $22 by 2040. However, Google Gemini expects a price of $150 for XRP, aligning with the recent projections and the Telegaon forecast.

Many see XRP as a potential vehicle for wealth and financial success. 

They envision a future where XRP’s value rises so dramatically that today’s holders become millionaires, allowing them to retire from active work.

This vision has sparked significant discussion within the XRP community about how to strategically invest in XRP to position oneself for potential financial success and achieve the goal of early retirement. Accordingly, this article examines the potential for retiring with XRP by 2040.

Creating a Retirement Plan

First, the amount needed to retire comfortably varies based on individual factors such as lifestyle, location, health, and expected lifespan. While research offers general guidelines, no single figure applies to everyone.

Financial planners often suggest that retirees need about 70–80% of their pre-retirement income annually to maintain their standard of living. For example, those earning $100,000 annually should aim for $70,000 to $80,000 annually in retirement.

This brings us to the question of how to reach that number. Fidelity’s savings benchmarks recommend saving 10 times your pre-retirement income by age 67 to ensure a comfortable retirement. For example, if your salary is $67,920, the U.S. average in 2024, you would need around $679,200 saved by age 67.

Meanwhile, a 2025 study by Northwestern Mutual found that Americans believe they need an average of $1.26 million to retire comfortably. Similarly, Charles Schwab’s 2024 survey suggests a “magic number” of $1.8 million.

However, the required retirement amount can be much lower in countries with significantly lower costs of living. In such places, retiring comfortably may not require millions of dollars.

Still, the overarching theme remains: accumulating up to $1 million is a retirement goal for many, due to the financial freedom such funds can provide. This brings us to the question of how XRP can help build a $1 million retirement fund by 2040. This estimate considers a 15-year time frame from now.

Investing in XRP to Retire by 2040

How quickly one reaches a $1 million target with XRP largely depends on the initial investment and the token’s future price. For example, someone holding 100,000 XRP could reach $1 million if XRP reaches a price of $10.

However, purchasing 100,000 XRP is financially out of reach for most retail investors. Today, it would cost over $200,000, a substantial amount that few are willing or able to invest.

Retiring by Holding 10,000 XRP

Let’s reduce the threshold to 10,000 XRP. This would require an investment of approximately $20,000 today. If XRP were to hit $100 per token, this holding would be worth $1 million.

According to a recent forecast by the Changelly crypto exchange, XRP could indeed exceed $100 by 2040. Specifically, their research suggests a minimum price of $170 for XRP by January 2040. In this scenario, holding 10,000 XRP would result in a portfolio worth $1.7 million in 15 years.

However, Changelly’s $170 prediction is their conservative estimate. They also project a potential XRP price of $1,474 by December 2040. At that rate, 10,000 XRP would be worth over $14.7 million. Notably, 10,000 XRP currently costs around $21,600.

Retiring by Holding 1,000 XRP

Meanwhile, if XRP does reach $1,474 by 2040, one would need far less initial capital to hit the $1 million goal. Specifically, just 700 XRP, worth about $1,512 today, would grow to approximately $1.03 million at that projected future price.

Final Thoughts

While these projections are undeniably exciting, it’s important to remember that predictions such as XRP reaching $1,474 by 2040 are speculative and not guaranteed. Investors should approach such scenarios with cautious optimism and consider diversifying their investments to manage risk.

Market analyst EGRAG Crypto has presented three ambitious XRP price targets for when XRP recovers from revisiting a historical “white circle.”

Data from EGRAG’s chart shows that this “white circle” has been an area in which XRP has historically taken liquidity for another impressive leg up. Notably, the latest commentary comes on the back of a consolidation phase that has grounded XRP around the lower ends of the $2 region.

Interestingly, EGRAG suggests this current consolidation resembles previous instances of similar range-bound phases, after which XRP exploded. His chart highlights two such cases across different cycles, with both leading to varying degrees of price explosions.

Previous Instances XRP Visited the White Circle

The first instance came up during the 2017/2018 cycle, beginning with an initial impressive XRP run. Specifically, this run started when XRP eventually broke above the 21 exponential moving average (EMA) in March 2017 after battling with the moving average for nearly a year.

Following the break above the 21 EMA, XRP’s price skyrocketed by more than 7,000% to a high of $0.3988 by May 2017. Notably, this marked the first uptrend for the 2017/2018 cycle. After the initial peak, XRP pulled back and consolidated for six months, eventually retesting the 21 EMA as support. This retest of the 21 EMA represented XRP’s visit to the “white circle.”

After this visit to the white circle, XRP’s uptrend resumed, resulting in a second leg-up. While this second leg-up was not as powerful as the initial rally, it still led to new heights for XRP. Particularly, XRP rose over 1,900% from a low of $0.17 to a new peak of $3.55 by January 2018.

As XRP collapsed from this peak, the bear market came and XRP spent years battling the 21 EMA again. However, when the bull run resumed, XRP broke above the 21 EMA in late 2020, soaring to a high of $0.8294 by November 2020. This initial uptrend was premature due to the impact of the SEC lawsuit, which began in December 2020.

As the SEC lawsuit took shape, XRP again retraced from the peak of the initial rally, and, at some point, retested the 21 EMA as support. This represented a revisit to the white circle, a phenomenon that resulted in an immediate recovery, as XRP engineered the second upsurge, rising nearly 500% to $1.98 by April 2021.

XRP is Now Revisiting the White Circle

EGRAG’s chart shows that XRP is now revisiting the white circle, as the pattern plays out again. Specifically, the initial upsurge took shape after XRP broke above the 21 EMA in November 2024 amid the latest market-wide run. 

Following this breakout, XRP reached a peak of $3.4 in January 2025, marking a 580% rise from the November 2024 price. However, it faced a roadblock at this level and is now witnessing a bearish consolidation phase, which has pushed it to retest the 21 EMA, essentially revisiting the white circle.

Notably, XRP made this visit when it dropped to $1.61 in April 2025. Now, EGRAG is expecting a second rally from the 21 EMA. He has three targets for this forthcoming upsurge. The first target is a 465% increase from the 21 EMA ($2.034) to a peak of $11.5. This would occur if XRP followed the 2020/2021 path.

Meanwhile, his second target is a 1,964% increase from $2.034 to $42. This target would materialize if XRP followed the 2017/2018 pathway. However, the third target represents an average of both rallies, resulting in a 1,225% increase to $27, a price level EGRAG has consistently championed.

XRP price could surge to unimaginable levels if the asset’s utility in payments grows to allow it to cover 25% of global financial transactions.

XRP may not be hitting new highs lately, but most community members still see huge potential in it. Specifically, proponents argue that the token is undervalued, especially given its real-world use in payments. 

XRP Boasts Massive Utility in Payments

As Ripple’s payment infrastructure continues to grow, so does the belief that XRP’s utility could eventually drive its price much higher. However, it is important to understand the scale of the global financial scene in order to confirm how high the XRP price could go if it captures a large chunk.

Notably, in 2023, a report by Telegeography indicated that estimates suggest global financial transactions total about $10 trillion each day. The report also hinted that the actual number might be even larger. Still, for practical purposes, most estimates continue to use the $10 trillion mark.

With that in mind, we asked ChatGPT what might happen if XRP handles 25% of those global transactions, or about $2.5 trillion daily. At the time, XRP traded for $2.16, had a circulating supply of 58.88 billion, and a market cap of $127.6 billion. Daily trading volume came in at about $2.738 billion.

XRP Price if It Handles 25% of Global Transactions

In response, ChatGPT presented several methods for evaluating the XRP price using these figures. In the first approach, it looked at what would happen if XRP’s price rose in direct proportion to its transaction volume. 

Since the current price reflects a daily volume of roughly $2.7 billion, scaling that up to $2.5 trillion would put the XRP price at around $1,972.50. Notably, this estimate assumes there is a straight-line relationship between price and usage. However, this doesn’t always hold up in real markets.

Next, ChatGPT used the Network Value to Transactions (NVT) ratio, a measure similar to a price-to-earnings ratio in stock markets. Assuming XRP became a major settlement asset and maintained an efficient NVT of 20, its market cap would rise to $50 trillion. 

Dividing that by the current supply leads to a price of about $849.38. Interestingly, a lower NVT of 10 would suggest a price near $424.69, while a higher NVT of 40 would push it closer to $1,698.75. 

Meanwhile, in its third method, ChatGPT assessed how XRP might work as a bridge currency. Specifically, this model focuses on liquidity, referencing how much value XRP needs to move each day. 

If each token changed hands just once a day, it would need to carry the full $2.5 trillion, placing its value at about $42.47. If XRP moved ten times a day, the price would fall to around $4.25. At twenty transactions per day, the price would settle near $2.12, close to where it trades now.