Former Ripple CTO David “JoelKatz” Schwartz responded to viral predictions of XRP reaching $100, stating that the current market price already reflects how much credible capital believes in such a near-term target. His comments expanded into a broader discussion on XRP Ledger economics and the trade-offs in scaling, which he feels are often overlooked during hype cycles.
When asked if XRP could hit $100, Schwartz was responding to a user who urged him to tell supporters that XRP “can’t and won’t go to $50-100,” warning that many people lose money investing in it. Schwartz avoided making absolute claims, instead framing the question in terms of probability and noting his own history of being surprised by crypto’s potential.
“I don’t feel comfortable saying something like that,” Schwartz wrote. “While I don’t think it’s likely, I didn’t think it was likely that XRP would ever hit $0.25. I started selling XRP at $0.10 because it seemed insane. I remember when Bitcoin hitting $100 seemed like an impossible dream.”
Rather than debating narratives, he offered a market-based thought experiment: if rational investors truly believed there was a meaningful chance of XRP reaching $100 within a few years, the current price would not remain far below $10 for long.
“If many rational people believed that there was a 10% chance that XRP hit $100 within a few years, they definitely wouldn’t sell very much today at much less than $10,” he explained. “Those with that belief would quickly buy up most of the XRP, because they’d value it more highly than those without that belief, and soon the supply of XRP well below $10 would dry up.”
Schwartz concluded by pointing out the gap between this hypothetical scenario and reality. “That the current trading price is well below $10 shows that there aren’t very many people who really think it has a 10% chance of hitting $100 within a few years with enough confidence to put their money where their mouth is,” he stated, adding, “So anyone who says otherwise is not telling the truth.”
He emphasized that readers can apply the same logic with different odds, time frames, and target prices. In closing, Schwartz noted his assumption that crypto markets are generally rational, with major bull runs usually driven by unpredictable external changes rather than widely anticipated events.
In a separate reply, Schwartz revisited a previous statement where he said XRP “can’t be cheap.” When asked what he meant, he clarified: “It means that a low price for XRP actually makes it more expensive to use for payments and exchanges.” The reasoning is mechanical: if XRP’s price is lower, more units are needed to represent the same value in transactions, which could affect its utility in payment and exchange flows.
Scaling the XRP Ledger
Schwartz also addressed questions about the XRP Ledger’s throughput after a user asked if its theoretical capacity of 1,500 transactions per second is sufficient and whether there are ways to increase it. He explained that while higher TPS is possible, most methods would impose additional costs on node operators.
“There are ways, but I don’t think you really want to,” he wrote. “Almost any way you do it imposes costs on everyone who runs a node. They have to receive more transactions, process and store more transactions, and relay more transactions to others.”
He argued that decentralization can be pressured when node costs rise without corresponding benefits, suggesting a different focus: “This is why I think it makes more sense to try to increase the value of each transaction rather than trying to increase the number of transactions you can support.”
With XRPL fees being “so low,” he added, many transactions…Transactions that are “very low in value” could be replaced by more useful ones on the XRPL, potentially even pushing out the worthless transactions before the network’s capacity becomes a limiting factor. At the time of writing, XRP was trading at $1.76.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about the topic Can XRP Reach 100 Former Ripple CTO David Schwartz Shares His Perspective designed to be clear and helpful for a range of readers
Beginner General Questions
1 Can XRP really reach 100
Its theoretically possible but highly improbable in the near to medium term based on current market dynamics Reaching 100 would require XRPs market capitalization to become larger than the current value of the entire global economy which is an enormous hurdle
2 What did David Schwartz actually say about XRP hitting 100
David Schwartz Ripples CTO has consistently stated that while he believes in XRPs longterm utility a 100 price is unrealistic under normal circumstances He emphasizes that such a price would require a massive unprecedented shift in global finance and asset valuation
3 What is market capitalization and why does it matter for the 100 question
Market cap is the total value of all XRP in existence For XRP to hit 100 its market cap would need to be around 52 trillion Thats more than the market cap of Apple and Microsoft combined which puts the scale into perspective
4 What would XRP need to reach 100
It would require mass adoption by major global banks and financial institutions as a primary bridge currency a significant reduction in available supply and a monumental influx of investment capital far beyond current crypto market levels
Advanced Technical Questions
5 Doesnt the large supply of XRP make a high price impossible
Not impossible but extremely challenging A large supply means each individual coin requires less total money flowing in to increase in price but reaching a very high price per coin requires a staggeringly high total valuation Its a doubleedged sword
6 How does the ongoing SEC lawsuit against Ripple affect XRPs price potential
The lawsuit has created significant uncertainty and limited US exchange listings which has suppressed price and institutional adoption A clear favorable resolution is widely seen as a necessary step for XRP to realize even a fraction of its potential growth let alone approach 100