If you're looking to put $100 to work in the crypto market right now, you might be experiencing a case of sticker shock.
Bitcoin, despite its recent slump, is still trading close to $100,000. Ethereum is still trading above $3,000. And highfliers like Solana are still trading well above $100.
But not to worry, there's one bargain-priced cryptocurrency out there that's worth a closer look: XRP (XRP 1.87%). Currently trading for just $2, XRP is an intriguing high-risk, high-reward crypto investment opportunity.
How high can XRP go?
Within the near term, XRP has the ability to double in price. Earlier this year, XRP traded as high as $3.65, and it's not out of the question that it could soon make a run at its all-time high of $3.84.
If anything, that's a conservative estimate of just how high XRP might go over the next 12 to 24 months. According to Standard Chartered, XRP could be worth as much as $12.50 by 2028.
CRYPTO: XRP
Key Data Points
That might sound like pie-in-the-sky thinking, but it's actually based on the rising pace of institutional adoption for XRP. Known as "the banker's coin," XRP is primarily a bridge currency used to make efficient, low-cost, and extremely fast cross-border payments.
At one time, it was primarily individuals making these cross-border payments. They were sending money to family or friends abroad. For good reason, Western Union was among the early partners of Ripple, the company behind the XRP token.
However, it's now Wall Street banks and global financial institutions that are increasingly embracing XRP as a means to facilitate seamless cross-border money transfers. Blockchain technology has proven its worth as a means to transfer money globally quickly and efficiently, and XRP is at the forefront of this change.
Image source: Getty Images.
That's why price targets for XRP range as high as $100. These price targets are based on a view of the world in which the XRP blockchain ledger becomes the backbone of the modern financial system. In theory, this should lead to increased demand for the XRP token, which should push up its price over time.
Granted, the hype and buzz surrounding XRP has a tendency to get out of control. After all, in more than a decade, XRP has never once traded higher than a price of $4. So it's best to take $100 price targets with a grain of salt.
How to deploy $100 in XRP?
Prior to 2025, options for getting exposure to XRP were relatively limited. Investors typically had to sign up for an account with a major cryptocurrency exchange and then buy XRP in the spot crypto market.
But even that was challenging at times. After the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple in 2020, some U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchanges opted not to list the XRP token for trading out of an abundance of caution.
However, in August of this year, this SEC lawsuit against Ripple finally came to an end. Then, in November, a handful of new spot XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) launched.
All of these ETFs do only one thing: buy and hold XRP. So, by purchasing these ETFs, investors are getting 1:1 exposure to the price action of XRP. And they can do so via a regular brokerage account with the full blessing of U.S. regulators.
CRYPTO: XRP
Key Data Points
As a result, investors now have options for buying XRP. Instead of picking up 50 XRP tokens in the spot crypto market, they could, for example, use that $100 to buy five shares of the Bitwise XRP ETF. Or, they could just as easily buy spot XRP ETFs from the likes of Grayscale, Canary Capital, or 21Shares. By 2026, several more spot XRP ETFs are expected to start trading as well.
Final caveats for XRP investors
That being said, investing in XRP via an ETF does not remove all risk from the equation. XRP remains a volatile and highly speculative cryptocurrency.
XRP is trading at a bargain price of $2 for a reason. It's coming off a bruising five-year legal battle with the SEC. It's facing new competition from stablecoins, which are digital currencies pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar. And it's dealing with the rise of new high-speed blockchains promising even faster and cheaper cross-border transfers.
That being said, a relatively modest investment could go a long way with XRP. If this high-risk, high-reward cryptocurrency ever delivers on its early promise, it could be the sort of home run investment that completely transforms a portfolio.
