XRP May Reach $12.5 Before the End of President Trump's Term, According to Standard Chartered

Key Points to Know:

• Standard Chartered predicts XRP could reach $12.50 by the end of 2028.

• The bank highlighted that XRP is uniquely positioned at the core of cross-border payments.

• The report suggests XRP is expected to match Bitcoin's price gains.

Investment bank Standard Chartered (STAN) stated in a report on Tuesday that XRP could rise to $12.50 before President Trump leaves office, as it initiated coverage of the Ripple-related token.

The bank's projections include XRP reaching $5.50 by the end of this year, $8 by the end of 2026, $10.40 by the end of 2027, and $12.50 by the end of 2028. As of writing, XRP was trading almost 9% higher at $1.94.

The bank observed that XRP surged sixfold after Donald Trump's election victory in November, driven by expectations that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would drop its appeal against Ripple and the potential approval of XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Standard Chartered believes such gains are sustainable, partly due to leadership changes at the SEC, and also because "XRP is uniquely positioned at the core of one of the fastest-growing use cases for digital assets—facilitating cross-border and cross-currency payments."

Geoffrey Kendrick, head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered Bank, wrote that XRPL is similar to the primary use case for stablecoins like Tether: blockchain-enabled financial transactions that have traditionally been handled by traditional financial (TradFi) institutions.

The report also noted that stablecoin transactions are expected to increase tenfold over the next four years.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies pegged to another asset, such as the U.S. dollar or gold. They play a significant role in cryptocurrency markets and are commonly used for international money transfers.

Ripple is also working to expand XRPL into the tokenization space, according to the bank. XRPL is the decentralized public blockchain used for XRP payments.

Given these positive factors, Standard Chartered believes XRP should continue to track alongside its larger counterpart, Bitcoin (BTC), in terms of price growth.

While XRPL faces challenges, such as a small number of developers and limited value capture, the report suggests these drawbacks are outweighed by the positive trends supporting its growth.