TLDR:

• Standard Chartered projects XRP could reach $5.5 by end of 2025 and $12.5 by 2028
• Ripple’s cross-border payment positioning cited as key catalyst for future growth
• Recent acquisition of Hidden Road aims to accelerate transactions via XRPL
• 62.8% of XRP’s realized cap is now held by investors who entered in the last six months
• Options market shows 4.5% chance of XRP reaching $4 by next month

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Standard Chartered bank has released a bullish forecast for XRP, projecting the cryptocurrency could increase by 200% to reach $5.5 by the end of 2025. The bank’s report, dated April 8, further predicts XRP could cross above $10 in 2027 and extend its rise to $12.5 by the end of 2028.

This would represent a 600% increase from XRP’s current value of approximately $1.7, according to the bank’s analysis.

The forecast comes after XRP experienced similar returns following Donald Trump’s election victory in November 2024. Standard Chartered attributed that rally to expected regulatory shifts and the anticipated dismissal of the Ripple lawsuit under the Trump administration.

Geoffrey Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s head of digital asset research, highlighted Ripple’s unique market position as a key factor in their forecast.

“XRP is uniquely positioned at the heart of one of the fastest-growing use cases for digital assets – facilitation of cross-border and cross-currency payments,” Kendrick noted in the report.

He further compared XRPL (XRP Ledger) to the main use case for stablecoins like Tether, describing both as “blockchain-enabled financial transactions that have traditionally been done through traditional financial institutions.”

Strategic Acquisition

Ripple recently made a strategic move by acquiring Hidden Road, a traditional prime broker that handles $10 billion in daily trades. This acquisition aims to accelerate transactions via XRPL by leveraging XRP and Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD.

Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s founder, explained the benefits: “Instead of waiting for <24 hours to settle trades through fiat rails, Hidden Road will be using XRPL for clearing a portion of trades, and using RLUSD as collateral across its prime brokerage services.”

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For context, XRPL is Ripple’s blockchain designed to advance cross-border payments. The acquisition aligns with Kendrick’s bullish outlook, though XRP has faced short-term pressure from broader market uncertainty.

Despite Standard Chartered’s optimistic projections, the options market currently prices only a 4.5% chance of XRP reaching the $4 level by next month.

However, the $4 call option was the most traded in recent volume, suggesting some traders are speculating that the altcoin could hit a new all-time high by May.

Retail Investment Surge

On-chain analytics firm Glassnode recently highlighted a change in XRP’s investor composition. Their data shows that the cryptocurrency’s Realized Cap – which tracks the total capital invested in the asset – has doubled from around $30.1 billion to $64.2 billion in recent months.

This surge in capital has been driven primarily by newer investors. According to Glassnode, 62.8% of the entire capital currently invested in XRP has come from investors who entered the market within the last six months.

During #Ripple’s Feb surge, Realized Cap nearly doubled from $30.1B to $64.2B – a $30B inflow largely from new investors. This short-term capital spike points to retail-led momentum, which has since cooled off as inflows slowed post-February. pic.twitter.com/Oe40qujPcU

— glassnode (@glassnode) April 8, 2025

This represents a dramatic shift from the previous distribution, where new investors controlled just 23% of the cryptocurrency’s Realized Cap.

Glassnode described this influx as “retail-led momentum,” though they noted it appears to be cooling off recently as the metric is no longer growing as sharply.

The analytics firm expressed some caution about this concentration of new holders. “This rapid concentration in new holders reflects strong retail involvement – but also raises the risk of fragility, as many hold elevated cost bases,” they noted.

Glassnode pointed out that similar conditions led to market tops during the last two bull markets. With inflows slowing down as the price declines, they suggest a similar pattern may be forming for XRP.

Recent price action seems to support this view, as XRP has experienced a plunge of more than 8% in the last 24 hours, bringing its price back down to $1.78 and erasing its latest recovery.

Despite these short-term fluctuations, Standard Chartered’s long-term outlook remains positive, emphasizing Ripple’s established position in the growing field of blockchain-based cross-border payments as the foundation for their bullish forecast.