Why XRP Could Reprice Faster Than Any Asset Once Governments Adopt It

• XRP must reach much higher prices to support central-bank-scale, stress-free global settlements efficiently.
• At current low prices, liquidity fragments and large transfers create delays and higher costs.
• Once XRP hits functional thresholds, it behaves as infrastructure, not a tradable token.

A new thought experiment is doing the rounds in crypto circles, and it starts with an uncomfortable question: Not “How high can XRP go?” But “At what price does XRP actually work?”

Analyst Rob Cunningham recently challenged readers to rethink XRP’s valuation through the lens of sovereign-scale settlement, the kind used by central banks, treasuries, and global institutions.

Step One: Forget Retail Prices

If XRP is used to move billions or trillions of dollars across borders, today’s price levels are almost irrelevant.

At the sovereign scale, four things matter:

• Global settlement volume
• Deep, stress-free liquidity
• Central-bank-sized transaction blocks
• Zero need for pre-funded accounts

Cunningham argues that when you model those constraints honestly, XRP needs to operate in a much higher price zone to remove friction rather than create it.

Step Two: Ask What Breaks Liquidity Stress

At low prices, large transfers fragment liquidity. Trades must be split. Costs rise. Settlement slows. That defeats the purpose. According to Cunningham’s analysis, XRP only becomes clean at scale when the price itself absorbs the stress.

His estimated operating range: $1,500 to $3,000 per XRP.

At around $2,000:

• One XRP carries real settlement weight
• Sovereign trades clear without breaking pools
• Liquidity stops being visible to the user

At that point, XRP behaves less like a token and more like a settlement rail.

Step Three: When Price Stops Being the Point

The most interesting claim isn’t about numbers, it’s about behavior. Cunningham suggests that once XRP reaches a functional threshold, it stops being “priced” in the traditional sense. Instead, it’s measured by capacity.

Think infrastructure, not speculation:

• Cost of capital trends toward zero
• Liquidity flows automatically
• Volatility fades only after the price is high enough

This is how energy grids, payment rails, and reserve systems behave once they are essential.

Step Four: Why XRP Would Not Rise Slowly

If markets ever decide XRP is structurally necessary, Cunningham says the repricing would be fast and uneven.

Why?

• There’s no earnings curve to ease into valuation
• There’s no substitute at a global scale
• Being wrong is far worse than overpaying

Institutions don’t wait for perfect prices when access itself is the risk.

Right now, XRP is trading around $1.85, a price that reflects speculation more than infrastructure-level utility. If XRP moves into large-scale global settlement use, this price would be far below what that role would require.

Related: Ripple’s Mastercard Pilot & Gemini Predict 63% Chance XRP Ends 2025 Between $1.50–$2.00