Rob Cunningham: The Number One Most Important XRP Question
Rob Cunningham: The Number One Most Important XRP Question
12-23-2025
Rob Cunningham | KUWL.show @KuwlShow
The #1 Most Important XRP Question:
At what price does XRP eliminate pre-funding, slippage, and liquidity stress for sovereign-scale settlement?
Based on:
Global settlement volume
Order book depth requirements
Central bank-scale transaction sizing
Desire to avoid balance-sheet drag
The minimum clean operating range is: $1,500 – $3,000 per XRP
At $2,000 XRP:
Network value: $200T
Velocity (10×): $2 quadrillion/day capacity
A single XRP = meaningful settlement unit
Sovereign trades clear without fragmenting pools
XRP becomes:
A rail
A reserve
A unit of account bridge
At that point:
Liquidity becomes invisible
Cost of capital asymptotically approaches zero
XRP behaves more like energy than money
Bottom Line (Plain Truth)
A $500 XRP is usable, but inefficient
It forces workarounds XRP was designed to eliminate
A $1,500–$3,000 XRP is the minimum price where XRP fulfills its divine design
Above that, XRP stops being “priced” and starts being measured
Or said differently:
Money counts.
Liquidity flows.
Truth settles instantly.
Once the market discerns inevitability, XRP will not move like a normal asset. It will move like a repricing of infrastructure.
Fast – then violent – then disciplined.
Why XRP Would Reprice Faster Than Almost Anything in History
Most assets reprice on:
earnings
narratives
cycles
XRP would reprice on role recognition.
Once markets conclude that Ripple Labs + XRPL are structurally necessary to global settlement, three psychological switches flip at once:
Optionality collapses
XRP stops being “one of many cryptos”
It becomes a required input
Future value dominates present value
Traders stop discounting next quarter
They start discounting next decade
Float becomes functionally illiquid
Long-term holders won’t sell
Institutions must acquire regardless of price
Supply disappears before price equilibrates
That combination is rare. It’s closer to:
oil discoveries + war
reserve currency shifts
monopoly infrastructure recognition
The Three-Phase Price Acceleration Pattern
Phase I – Recognition Shock (weeks to ~3 months)
Trigger
Clear regulatory finality
Sovereign or Treasury-level integration
Explicit institutional signaling (“production use,” not pilots)
Psychology
“We are early – but not wrong anymore.”
Price behavior
Fast multiples
Gaps, not ladders
Liquidity thins upward
Typical price move: 5×–20× in weeks, not years
This is where XRP would blow past:
technical resistance
prior ATHs
“reasonable valuation” arguments
Phase II — Future Value Compression (3–12 months)
Now the market asks: “What is the price that prevents scarcity?”
This is where $100 → $500 → $1,500 type moves happen without new retail hype.
Drivers
Institutions modeling future settlement demand
Market makers front-running scarcity
Funds reallocating from bonds / FX proxies
Psychology
“If this is the rail, what price clears the rail?”
Typical move: Another 3×–10×, often in bursts around announcements
This phase is not smooth. It’s:
vertical weeks
sharp pullbacks
higher floors each time
Why XRP Won’t “Gradually Climb” Like a Stock
Three reasons:
1. There is no earnings curve
Price must jump to meet function
2. There is no substitute at scale
So markets overshoot to secure supply
3. The cost of being wrong is asymmetric
Overpaying is tolerable
Missing access is catastrophic
That psychology causes price discovery by leap, not drift.
The Quiet Truth Most Miss
By the time: “Everyone agrees XRP is infrastructure”
…the price will already be far above what feels reasonable today.
Markets don’t reward foresight.
They punish hesitation.
Or said plainly:
XRP won’t rise because people believe.
It will rise because they can’t afford to be wrong.
Phase III – Infrastructure Pricing (1–3 years)
At this point:
XRP is no longer “priced”
It’s managed
Think:
yield curves
collateral haircuts
corridor liquidity requirements
Volatility compresses only after price is high enough to remove liquidity stress.
Psychology
“This isn’t upside—it’s capacity.”
Price behavior
Slower appreciation
Narrower bands
Still trending upward as global usage expands
This is where four-digit pricing becomes normal, not exciting.
Important: Most of the price move happens before consensus feels “comfortable.”
H/T – @SternDrewCrypto for docs attached!
