A well-known pundit suggests that the favorable developments in the XRP ecosystem and across the market could be leading to an unexpected XRP price explosion.
For context, despite a steady stream of bullish developments, the XRP price has remained largely bearish in recent months. Reports around the end of QT by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the launch of XRP ETFs, and growing activity within XRP’s DeFi ecosystem have failed to push the price higher.
Instead, XRP has hovered around the $2 level and is down more than 4% year-to-date. However, according to market commentator Zach Rector, these developments may be setting the stage for a sharp and unexpected price surge.
During a recent appearance on the Paul Barron Show, Rector joined host Paul Barron to discuss why he believes the market is misreading XRP’s current position.
In the opening session, Barron called attention to Coinbase’s latest moves, including plans to launch a prediction market on Dec. 17 alongside tokenized stocks. He questioned whether these developments signal a market top.
Rector disagreed with this notion, arguing that current conditions instead suggest the market is nearing a bottom. He explained that the expansion of on-chain tokenized markets is increasing access and liquidity, even if early use cases appear trivial.
According to Rector, speculative betting markets may initially attract attention, but they often serve as a gateway to more serious tokenization efforts.
He highlighted recent reports involving the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, which plans to bring parts of its operations on-chain. Rector called this development a major step forward, given DTCC’s position as one of the world’s largest securities clearinghouses.
According to him, DTCC oversees an estimated $3-4 quadrillion in assets. He emphasized that this shows how early discussions around tokenizing tens or hundreds of trillions of dollars once sounded unrealistic. Now, industry leaders openly discuss tokenizing assets measured in quadrillions.
The market pundit highlighted comments from Franklin Templeton’s Sandy Kaul, who spoke at Ripple’s Swell conference about releasing “trapped” global liquidity through tokenization. Rector said her vision went beyond traditional securities, extending to IP rights, sports ownership, and entirely new markets that could become accessible through blockchain.
Meanwhile, Barron expanded on this point by noting the scale of trapped capital across countries, international banks, and high-net-worth structures, as well as in real-world assets and intellectual property. He stressed that Ripple and the XRP Ledger sit at the center of many of these tokenization and infrastructure developments.
Regarding XRP’s price performance, which has remained bearish since October, Barron reminded his audience that XRP is still up 1,700% from March 2020 lows and has continued to hold $2. However, he asked whether the market could ever see XRP return to the $1 level.
Rector dismissed this scenario as extremely unlikely, suggesting it would require an extraordinary black swan event. He revealed his trading strategy, explaining that he holds a long XRP position and continues to add on dips. According to him, he has set buy orders around $1.91, just above a key $1.90 order block.
Rector acknowledged that he initially entered an XRP position at an average cost of $3.40 in July but has since lowered his average cost to about $2.23 through dollar-cost averaging.
He outlined major historical support levels, including $1.60 in April, $1.77 during the October 10 liquidation event, and $1.81 in November. He noted that XRP has consistently formed higher lows throughout the year, confirming his belief that a drop to $1 would require a severe market shock.
Meanwhile, speaking further, Rector said he expects one more short-term downside move within the next week, followed by a recovery. He projected Bitcoin reclaiming $100,000 and XRP rebounding toward $2.70.
Looking ahead, he outlined a Q1 2026 XRP target just under $10, with an expected range between $5 and $8 before eventually moving into double digits later in 2026. He also suggested that, over a 12-month horizon, XRP could reach the $15 to $20 range.
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