XRP (XRP -2.61%) is off to a terrific 2025. The Ripple crypto project is still dealing with a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, but a significantly improved regulatory environment from the new presidential administration has investors feeling bullish about the future. This has caused XRP's valuation to soar by nearly 50% so far this year. But when it comes to XRP's and Ripple's long-term future, I've got my eye on one number in particular.
This is the most important number long term for Ripple
Like many crypto projects, Ripple has dealt with its fair share of speculation and FUD over the years. These sentiment swings have caused its valuation to swing and swoon by billions of dollars over many single 24-hour periods. Through XRP, Ripple claims that it can revolutionize bank-to-bank transfers, lowering costs, adding transparency, and improving efficiencies, especially for cross-border transactions. But right now, the network's transaction volumes remain relatively low.
Since 2021, XRP has handled roughly 1 million transactions per day, a figure that hasn't changed much in general over that time period, even though it also experiences its own booms and busts. Conventional transfer networks like ACH, meanwhile, are already facilitating 30 billion transfers per day.
In summary, despite all of the hype, Ripple's evolution toward becoming a major payment network is still just beginning. And while its valuation swings wildly based on regulatory considerations and expectations for the future, network volumes haven't grown in any meaningful way for years.
That's not to say Ripple doesn't have plenty of promise. It certainly does. There are many systemic issues involved in cross-country money transfers, and Ripple's platform presents a promising solution. But from a long-term investor standpoint, the most important metric should be its underlying network volume. That's the number I'm keeping my eye on in 2025 and beyond.
