XRP Fans Want $1,000, Analysts See $30 — But Franklin Templeton Says One Missing Variable Will Decide the Real Price

An interesting debate around XRP has resurfaced after ETF analyst Nate Geraci raised a question many investors quietly ask: How high can XRP actually go from here?

Geraci said that XRP trades near $2 with a market cap of about $125 billion. Even if the token ever grew to match Bitcoin’s current $1.8 trillion valuation, it would land somewhere near $30. Yet the crypto world remains full of predictions calling for $1,000 XRP or even higher.

To dig into the real fundamentals, Geraci turned to Christopher Jensen, Portfolio Manager and Director of Digital Asset Research at Franklin Templeton. Jensen didn’t offer price predictions, but he did explain how serious investors evaluate XRP’s long-term upside.

XRP’s Value Depends on Payments, Not Price Hype

Jensen said the investment case for XRP starts with Ripple’s push to build a global payments network. The company has spent years buying firms and inserting XRP into their systems so the token becomes part of the “back-end plumbing” that moves money.

He explained that Ripple wants XRP to serve as a kind of standard payment rail,  a digital highway that institutions can use for cross-border transfers, settlement, and internal payments. If XRP becomes widely integrated into financial infrastructure, demand for the token could grow.

The Real Question: Does Activity Flow Back Into the Token?

Jensen explained something most retail investors overlook: value accrual.

Every blockchain handles this differently. If someone sends $5 of stablecoins on Ethereum, Solana, or Ripple’s network, the benefit to the native token varies. Some networks capture a lot of value, while others capture very little.

For XRP, future price appreciation depends on how much economic activity actually returns to the token, not just how many banks or companies use Ripple’s software.

Market Share Will Decide XRP’s Ceiling

Payments are one of the largest markets in crypto, but they’re also competitive. Solana and other fast networks already handle a huge volume of transactions. Jensen said investors need to consider market share, adoption, and how Ripple positions XRP as a standard for different payment use cases.

If XRP becomes the preferred rail for global money movement, the upside could be significant. If not, it may stay tied to realistic growth ranges rather than sky-high predictions.

In short, the long-term value of XRP will not be decided by big predictions — but by whether Ripple succeeds in turning the token into the backbone of modern payments.