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A heated discussion is emerging within the XRP community over whether global banks could truly adopt XRP and trigger its next explosive rally—despite Ripple’s gargantuan token holdings.
Widely-followed crypto analyst Mason Versluis sparked the debate on X, pointing out that if XRP’s price were to skyrocket to sky-high prices, Ripple—which sits on roughly 38 billion token holdings—could rise to become one of the most powerful financial forces globally. “Do we really think banks want to make that happen for the Ripple company’s story? Versluis asked XRP fans.
He stressed that global banks operate with caution, noting that adopting a crypto asset like XRP requires careful evaluation not only of the technology itself but also of its market structure, token distribution, and overall public perception. Banks assessing XRP would weigh multiple factors, particularly Ripple’s substantial control over the token supply.
The real question is whether XRP’s speed and low-cost cross-border utility are powerful enough to make banks ignore Ripple’s massive token stash?
Ripple’s combined holdings—33.5 billion tokens in escrow and 5 billion in a spendable wallet, totaling 38.5 billion XRP—highlight the scale of its position. At a hypothetical price of $30 per XRP, those holdings would be valued at a staggering $1.14 trillion, compared to a current estimated value of about $51.3 billion.
 
Simply put, XRP’s price surge could hand Ripple massive financial power—something rivals may not welcome. Versluis warns investors to stay grounded, rethink assumptions, and avoid getting swept up in overly bullish hype.
“Yeah, this makes business sense for us to do and would make us money, but we don’t want to do it because it also makes this other company money,” Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz observed in response, capturing the classic tension between profit and competitive strategy.
Could Banks Prefer RLUSD Stablecoin Over XRP?
Some industry voices suggested that banks are more likely to adopt Ripple’s dollar-pegged stablecoin RLUSD instead of XRP.
Anodos Finance CEO Panos Mekras, for instance, argues that banks may ultimately skip XRP for payments altogether—and that even Ripple appears to have anticipated this shift. He points to the launch of the RLUSD Stablecoin in December 2024 as a strategic move, suggesting that stablecoins offer a more practical fit for institutional use. Unlike volatile assets, stablecoins maintain a fixed value, making them far more predictable, stable, and aligned with the operational needs of banks handling payments at scale.
“Stablecoins are a much better instrument for payments, and XRP’s role goes back to the origins. I think we should stop pushing XRP as the “banking tool”, XRP is much more than that,” Mekras opined.
Suffice to say, questions continue to surface over whether XRP remains a core pillar of global finance or whether its role is gradually shifting alongside newer offerings like RLUSD, as the ecosystem evolves and institutions reassess how each asset fits into their long-term strategies.