XRP on the verge of $1,000? Analysis of the ambitious forecast by a former Goldman Sachs analyst
On Monday, the XRP exchange rate showed a confident increase of 9.3%, reaching a local high of $1.29. This surge resulted from several factors simultaneously: active accumulation of the coin by large holders and the resumption of discussions around a long-standing but extremely ambitious forecast — reaching the $1,000 mark. It is important to note that the current XRP rally perfectly synchronized with the general revival in the altcoin market.
Positive news about diplomatic agreements between the US and Iran noticeably reduced pressure on risky assets, creating a favorable backdrop for cryptocurrencies.
Reasons for the current XRP growth: from macro to micro
On the eve of the rally, market sentiment around XRP, according to the analytical platform Santiment, fell to its lowest values since October 2025. However, historical data shows that powerful price impulses often originate precisely in moments of total pessimism. Most of the massive surges of this cryptocurrency occurred exactly when retail investors lost all interest in it.
The most important trigger for the trend reversal was the easing of geopolitical tensions in the world. As a result, investors once again showed interest in riskier instruments. Bitcoin rose to approximately $65,300, gold added about 2%, and the commodity market responded with a drop in oil prices of more than 3%.
Naturally, a wave of optimism also swept over the largest alternative coins. XRP maintains a confident upward trend. At the time of preparing the material, the coin was consolidating around $1.22, showing a daily increase of 3.25%.
Large holders continue to accumulate XRP
In addition to macroeconomic factors, the coin receives strong support from its largest holders. According to blockchain data, wallets with a balance of over 1 million XRP currently hold 74.1% of the total market supply. Over the past six months, large players have increased their holdings by approximately 1.53 billion tokens.
"Traders are closely watching the increase in Ripple's partners in the field of institutional payments and the development of tokenization processes on the XRP Ledger blockchain. Both of these directions supported the long-term confidence of holders, despite recent price drawdowns. When a positive macroeconomic environment combines with stable accumulation by large holders, sharp bounces usually happen quickly," Santiment noted.
XRP price forecast of $1,000 by 2030: reality or fantasy?
Against this backdrop, Dom Kwok, co-founder of the educational app EasyA and a former Goldman Sachs analyst, named a long-term target for XRP — $1,000 by 2030. The forecast is based on expected use cases and an influx of new crypto users.
The specialist compares the current evolution of the blockchain industry with the era of the internet's birth. According to him, the world wide web only became truly mainstream after the emergence of simple and useful services. The specificity of the crypto sphere lies in the mechanism of capital distribution. Projects launched on the basis of XRPL create value directly for the XRP coin itself, rather than accumulating it inside third-party overlays.
"When such applications appear, new use cases will come to the blockchain and, ultimately, will be reflected on the token itself. Bitcoin has practically no useful functions, but XRP has many," he said.
In his calculations, he also relies on data about the number of users.
"Currently, only 7% of the planet's inhabitants own cryptocurrencies," he noted, calling this an extremely low figure.
According to his estimate, when the rest catch up, they will ignore the largest assets. Newcomers, Kwok is confident, are put off by the high prices of top coins, and XRP looks more affordable to them.
"They will buy neither Bitcoin nor Ethereum — the choice will fall on XRP," Dom Kwok believes.
The emergence of an XRP price from $1.22 to $1,000 would mean a growth of approximately 81,867%. Over the next four years, this would require attracting trillions of dollars into the token so that XRP's market capitalization exceeds $60 trillion. Such a leap is possible only with an unprecedented level of adoption, massive growth of the crypto market, and widespread use of the XRP Ledger in international financial and commercial settlements.
My expert opinion: The forecast of $1,000 by 2030 is, of course, an extremely optimistic scenario that requires not just growth, but tectonic shifts in the global financial system. For now, it reflects more faith in the future potential of the Ripple and XRPL ecosystem rather than a realistic market benchmark. The key factor here will be not so much speculative interest, but real institutional adoption of XRP as a bridge currency for international payments. Without this fundamental change, the $1,000 scenario will remain just a beautiful theory.