Should you buy XRP and hold until 2024 and beyond?

Although XRP (XRP -0.00%) was once a crypto darling, hasn’t done much in recent years. XRP is currently trading for just $0.57 and is down about 10% for the year. By way of comparison, crypto bell Bitcoin increased by 40% for 2024.

But there’s no reason to give up hope just yet if you’re considering investing in XRP. There are three reasons why XRP could turn things around by the end of this year. Let’s take a closer look.

A more favorable legal and regulatory outlook

Most importantly, the worst of XRP’s legal and regulatory problems may be in the rearview mirror. A nearly four-year legal battle with the SEC ended in August, and it looks like Ripple Labs (the company behind the XRP token) will live and fight another day. Yes, the company will have to pay $125 million in penalties for improperly selling XRP tokens to institutional investors, but that’s far less than the estimated $2 billion in fines the SEC was looking to levy on Ripple.

This legal and regulatory overhang has been the main factor affecting XRP’s value over the past few years. If Ripple is indeed free and clear of any further SEC regulatory action, then this could be the green light for investors to load up on XRP.

New growth opportunities

Needless to say, the lengthy legal battle with the SEC has been a serious setback for Ripple’s US operations. The partners cut ties with Ripple. Cryptocurrency exchanges have removed XRP. And Ripple has been forced to look for growth opportunities abroad.

This might be why you haven’t heard much about Ripple or XRP recently – all the action has been overseas. For example, at least eight different countries are now experimenting with XRP’s blockchain technology to create central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and this number could grow to 30.

In 2024 and beyond, new business expansion opportunities may open up in the US as well, which has the potential to push the price of XRP significantly higher. For example, Ripple is preparing to launch a new dollar-pegged stablecoin (known as Ripple USD) for the $150 billion stablecoin market. If Ripple USD is able to take even a small part of the market dominated by Tether or USD currencythat could be huge for XRP’s future growth prospects.

Getting a new ETF?

And there’s another reason to be excited if you’re an XRP investor. Investment firm Grayscale has just announced the creation of a new investment trust that will allow accredited investors to buy XRP. This is important because Grayscale is a key player when it comes to creating new investment products for crypto investors. Two of Grayscale’s investment trusts — one for Bitcoin and one for Ethereum — were converted into spot ETFs.

So the thinking here is that creating a new XRP trust could be the first step towards launching a spot ETF for XRP. And as we know from all the hype and noise the new spot Bitcoin ETFs have created, this could be huge in terms of new investor inflows. Money coming into XRP from retail investors could push the price of XRP much higher.

Image source: Getty Images.

The only problem here, of course, is SEC. Do you really think the SEC will approve an ETF for XRP after a four-year court battle with Ripple Labs? From a purely investment perspective, the best possible outcome would be to elect a pro-crypto US president in November and replace the current head of the SEC (Gary Gensler) with someone who is more pro-crypto.

Look before you leap with XRP

While all three of these catalysts have the potential to help XRP’s value rise, you definitely need to do your due diligence here. For example, it is still a bit puzzling why the price of XRP did not rise after the August court ruling. Many expected an XRP rally, but it didn’t happen.

That said, if you want to diversify your crypto portfolio away from Bitcoin and Ethereum, XRP could be a very interesting investment opportunity. A small investment today could lead to big gains in 2025 and beyond.