Should You Buy XRP (Ripple) While It's Under $2.50?

Back in early November 2024, the XRP (XRP -2.42%) cryptocurrency was hanging out at just $0.50 per coin. It wasn't exactly setting the world on fire, having seen plenty of volatility but no value-building gains to speak of in the previous four years. Then, the election results sparked a quick price jump. XRP shot up to $2.70 by Dec. 2. A couple of months later, rumor had it that XRP might be part of a new federal crypto reserve, and that hype pushed it up even further. The XRP chart peaked at $3.84 in mid-January, while peers like Bitcoin (BTC -0.11%) were setting all-time records.
But XRP wasn't actually included in the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve or the Digital Asset Stockpile, and the coin lost momentum on the news. Furthermore, risky assets like crypto have cooled off a bit in this unstable economy. So as of April 28, 2025, XRP is sitting at $2.29 per coin. Still way up from a few months ago, and far above the modest long-term averages, but also significantly below its recent highs.
With a total market value of $134 billion, XRP is still the fourth-largest name in crypto. Is it a bargain below $2.50, or should you wait for a lower price before building an XRP position in your crypto portfolio?
Let's take a look.
The bearish case
I'll start from the bearish side of the XRP debate. Many investors would argue that XRP should be out of rocket fuel by now.
The election-powered November gains are not coming back. That was a one-time market effect.
The long-running legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has pretty much fizzled out, and market forces are already accounting for this bullish fact.
The actual crypto reserve service probably won't even buy much Bitcoin, and XRP purchases are much lower on the federal priority list. This potential price-boosting catalyst failed to materialize, leaving XRP prices overvalued due to speculative moonshot investing.
Moreover, many other cryptocurrencies are starting to look like serious rivals to XRP's international payment services. Wouldn't a Ripple-like money transfer tool work just as well from an Ethereum (ETH -1.46%) or Solana (SOL -0.77%) platform, for example?
With so many question marks and weaknesses in play, XRP surely looks poised for a painful price correction.
The bullish case
Those bearish arguments are real, and I completely understand if you're convinced that XRP is a poor investment today.
But there's another side to this coin. XRP's bullish investors can also bring serious arguments to this debate.
The election drama is over, but there's more to the XRP story than pure media hype. Meme coins like Shiba Inu (SHIB -1.76%) and Dogecoin (DOGE -2.09%) rise and fall almost entirely because of their media chatter. These coins were always jokes at the core, often with objectively negative tweaks to their original platform designs. XRP, on the other hand, is the lifeblood of a serious international payments system. RippleNet is already a significant financial force today, and could become a trillion-dollar business someday.
The legal scuffle is over, but its long-term effects on the cryptocurrency market will play out over many years. XRP's courtroom efforts may have prepared digital assets for a much larger role in the American economy. So while the headline is old news, the beneficial ripple effects (pun intended!) could play out for a long time.
Competition can be a double-edged sword. Payment services from rival crypto communities should motivate the XRP and Ripple team to continue innovating. And RippleNet comes with the hard-to-beat advantage of having several dozen partnerships with local banks around the world. This competitive advantage should make XRP-based transactions smoother and more transparent to the sender and receiver. It's not an unbeatable edge, but certainly a helpful one.
From this perspective, XRP could be in the early stages of a massive market opportunity. $2.50 would be a bargain buy-in price if this system becomes a world-class standard for international payments. And what if XRP-based digital coins can replace old-school fiat currencies? There are several such projects under development, perhaps opening the door to another trillion-dollar market.
OK, so is XRP a buy or not?
Should you buy XRP while it's under $2.50 per coin? That depends on your risk tolerance, your views on the future of international payments, and your confidence in Ripple's ability to hold off its rising rivals. I'm convinced that XRP has a bright future, but it's hard to tell how much of that incoming boom is reflected in the current price. Slow and steady wins the race, especially in long-winded contests like your quest for financial independence.
As with any investment -- especially one as volatile as cryptocurrency -- make sure you're comfortable with the risks before diving in. And always remember: There's nothing wrong with waiting for more clarity if you're not sure which way this story ends.