In its more than 14-year history, XRP (XRP -0.73%) has never broken through the $4 price barrier. Admittedly, it has come tantalizingly close at times, but the all-time high for XRP remains a rather modest $3.84.
So is there any chance XRP hits $4 by the start of 2028? Let's take a closer look.
The path to $4 for XRP
Right now, you can find price targets for XRP as high as $100. Some banking analysts think XRP could easily hit $28 by 2030.
But guess what? XRP has never passed the $4 price barrier. Last January, for example, XRP soared in price to $3.40 before giving back all its gains. Then, it made another run at the $4 mark over the summer, stalling out as soon as it hit $3.65.
The problem might have to do with XRP's coin supply. The current circulating supply of XRP is 63 billion coins, but its maximum lifetime supply is 100 billion.
Image source: Getty Images.
If you are thinking about XRP from the perspective of its Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV), that's when a $4 price becomes problematic. The FDV assumes that every single token that can ever exist has already been minted. A 100 billion coin supply multiplied by a market price of $4 gives an implied market cap of $400 billion.
By comparison, Ethereum (ETH -0.01%), the world's second-largest cryptocurrency, has a market cap of only $330 billion. So, if XRP soars to $4, it would have a higher FDV than Ethereum (i.e., all 100 billion coins are in circulation).
And that's a bridge many investors would rather not cross. Is XRP really more valuable than Ethereum? XRP, at best, is a bridge currency for a payment network running on top of a distributed ledger. Ethereum is a full-fledged blockchain ecosystem running on top of the world's premier smart contract platform. There's simply no comparison.
That might go a long way in explaining why XRP twice made a run at the $4 mark in 2025 and failed both times. As soon as investors started talking about XRP "flipping" Ethereum in value, they immediately came to their senses.
CRYPTO: XRP
Key Data Points
How much higher can XRP go?
That being said, this is not to say that XRP doesn't have upside potential. In fact, if you go to the Kalshi online prediction market, traders think XRP has a 12% chance of hitting $4 by the end of this year. And 60% of traders think XRP will hit $2 this year.
From a historical perspective, there are numerous examples of XRP skyrocketing in price within very short time intervals. But can XRP rally all the way to $4 by 2028? If it hasn't happened in 14 years despite several rushes, there's little reason to think it's time in Year 15.
