Is XRP really on track to flip Ethereum in the next bull run?

The battle for the top spots in crypto is heating up again. XRP is back in the spotlight as Ripple deepens its institutional push, major players experiment with tokenization on the XRP Ledger, and traders talk openly about a possible “flippening” of Ethereum in the next bull run. At the same time, regulation, global payment standards, and competition from networks like Stellar are shaping what the next cycle could look like.

Ripple’s full-stack push into institutional crypto

Ripple has spent more than a decade positioning itself as a bridge between traditional finance and digital assets. Today, the company offers what it calls an end-to-end digital asset infrastructure stack aimed squarely at banks and financial institutions.

This stack includes:

• Custody – secure storage of digital assets for institutions.
• Payments – cross-border and on-chain payment rails.
• Stablecoins – infrastructure to issue and manage fiat-backed tokens.
• Tokenization – tools to represent real-world assets on-chain.
• Prime brokerage – institutional-grade trading and liquidity services.
• Treasury – tools for managing digital asset balances and liquidity.

Ripple doesn’t just sell software. Over the past five years, it has been aggressively collecting licenses around the world. The company now holds around 75 licenses globally, including regulation by the CSSF in Luxembourg and the FCA in the UK. That lets Ripple offer not only technology but also regulated services, which is a key differentiator when dealing with conservative banks and large financial institutions.

Tokenized treasuries on the XRP Ledger

One of the most interesting developments around XRP is the use of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) for tokenized real-world assets. A recent pilot involving Ripple, JP Morgan, Mastercard, and Fondo Finance used XRPL to cash out a tokenized US Treasury fund internationally.

Why XRPL? The participants highlighted a few core advantages:

• Low-friction tokenization – XRPL makes it straightforward to issue and manage tokenized assets.
• Built for movement – the ledger is optimized for fast, low-cost transfers, which is ideal for financial instruments that need to move frequently.
• On-chain/off-chain connectivity – the pilot focused not just on tokenizing assets, but on connecting on-chain markets with off-chain banking systems to enable real liquidity management.

The key takeaway is that XRPL is moving beyond its original cross-border payments narrative. It’s becoming a platform for tokenized assets and liquidity management, allowing institutions to “upgrade” existing financial infrastructure without ripping it out. The goal is to do more with the same underlying assets by representing them on a blockchain designed for efficient movement.

From scrappy startup to institutional backbone

Ripple’s current institutional image is a long way from its early days. Early team members recall a tiny, bare-bones office with no air conditioning, homemade desks, and a relentless focus on building. Founders and engineers like Arthur Britto and David Schwartz were whiteboarding consensus models and ledger design while the team experimented and iterated.

From the beginning, XRP was envisioned as the foundational layer of this new infrastructure. That early conviction is now playing out as Ripple positions XRP and XRPL at the core of its institutional strategy.

Regulatory clarity: the Clarity Act and the US crypto future

While the tech is advancing, regulation remains the biggest wildcard—especially in the United States. Institutional investors and large banks want one thing above all else: predictable rules. They need to know that if they offer exposure to digital assets, the rules won’t be reversed with the next administration.

That’s where the proposed “Clarity Act” comes in. Supporters argue that:

• It would lock in a clear legal framework for digital assets, reducing the risk of constant policy flip-flops.
• Without it, a future administration could appoint another SEC chair with a hostile stance toward crypto, reviving aggressive enforcement actions.
• Ongoing regulatory whiplash would push innovation and capital offshore to jurisdictions like the UAE, Singapore, Switzerland, and others that already offer clearer rules.

Backers of the bill stress that it’s not a free-for-all deregulation move. Instead, they say it would create new consumer protections, give law enforcement better tools, and fill gaps in today’s fragmented framework. The political timing is tight, though. If the bill doesn’t pass before election cycles heat up, it could be delayed indefinitely.

For XRP and similar assets, long-term institutional adoption in the US likely depends on this kind of durable, bipartisan legal clarity.

ISO 20022 and the future of cross-border payments

Beyond crypto-specific regulation, global payment standards are also changing. The SWIFT community is in the middle of a major migration to the ISO 20022 messaging standard for cross-border payments.

By November 2026, fully unstructured addresses will no longer be supported in CBPR+ messages. Payments that don’t comply risk being delayed or rejected. This shift is part of the G20’s push to improve data quality and transparency in cross-border payments.

For networks like XRP and Stellar that focus on payments and settlement, ISO 20022 is a big deal. Better-structured data can make it easier to integrate blockchain-based rails with traditional banking systems, and it aligns with the broader trend of more transparent, traceable cross-border flows.

Stellar, DTCC, and the tokenization race

XRP isn’t the only network making moves in tokenization and payments. Stellar has been gaining momentum with a series of high-profile partnerships and products.

Recent developments around Stellar include:

• DTCC tokenization pilot – The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), a core piece of US market infrastructure, has begun its tokenization journey on Stellar. DTCC’s digital assets CTO has praised Stellar’s track record and efficiency for tokenized securities.
• MoneyGram integration – Stellar continues to power global payment flows through MoneyGram, connecting fiat and crypto rails.
• GOVY on Stellar – A tokenized perpetual US Treasury bill product designed to align with high-quality liquid asset (HQLA) principles, offering direct exposure to rolling short-dated US Treasuries.

Projects like Zebec are also building on Stellar, launching enterprise payroll products that leverage the network’s speed and low fees. This positions Stellar as a serious competitor in the real-world asset (RWA) and payments niche, right alongside XRP.

If you’re interested in how other networks are approaching tokenization, it’s worth also looking at how Hedera is handling real-time yield on tokenized securities in this breakdown of Hedera and Archax’s streaming yield model.

DeFi rewards and infrastructure: Flare, Songbird, and wallets

On the infrastructure side, networks like Flare and Songbird continue to refine how users earn and manage rewards. A recent update to the D’CENT wallet’s FTSO portal introduced:

• Auto-claiming – no more manual reward claims for Flare and Songbird holders.
• Auto-delegation – rewards can be automatically redelegated, effectively compounding interest without locking up assets.

Quality wallet infrastructure is critical for mainstream adoption. Features like auto-compounding and seamless delegation help make complex DeFi mechanics more accessible to everyday users, not just power traders.

XRP price talk: $8–10, $17, and the flippening narrative

On the market side, XRP traders are watching the charts closely. A few recurring themes are emerging among analysts and community members:

• Long consolidation – XRP has spent years in a wide consolidation range. Some traders argue that the longer the compression, the more violent the eventual expansion when it breaks out.
• Key levels – XRP recently failed to hold around $1.18 as support, leading some to expect a sweep of the lows before a sharp reversal—assuming Bitcoin and the broader market cooperate.
• Targets – bullish scenarios suggest a move to $8–10+ could happen faster than most expect once momentum returns. The most aggressive calls see XRP reaching $17 or more in the next bull run.

The boldest narrative is that such a move could allow XRP to challenge Ethereum for the number two spot by market cap—a “flippening” that would radically reshape the crypto landscape. Whether that happens will depend not just on price action, but also on regulatory clarity, institutional adoption, and how quickly real-world use cases scale.

If you want a deeper dive into XRP’s long-term price structure and key accumulation zones, check out this analysis of XRP’s biggest buying zone in eight years.

Altseason timing and the broader market

Some analysts are pushing their altseason expectations further out than usual, eyeing a major altcoin cycle around 2026–2027. The idea is that regulatory overhang, macro uncertainty, and the time needed for institutional infrastructure to mature could delay the full-blown altcoin mania.

In that scenario, XRP, Stellar, and other infrastructure-focused projects could benefit from a slow build-up of real-world adoption before speculative capital floods in. For patient holders, that long consolidation could be frustrating—but also potentially rewarding if the thesis plays out.

The bottom line

XRP sits at the intersection of several powerful trends: institutional adoption, tokenization of real-world assets, evolving global payment standards, and a regulatory environment that’s still being written. Ripple’s licensed, full-stack approach gives it credibility with banks, while pilots with giants like JP Morgan and Mastercard show that XRPL can handle more than just remittances.

At the same time, competition from Stellar and other networks is intense, and the outcome of US regulation could make or break institutional appetite for XRP and similar assets. Price targets like $17 and talk of flipping Ethereum are exciting, but they ultimately depend on whether this underlying infrastructure and regulatory groundwork translate into sustained, large-scale usage.

As always, none of this is financial advice. But if you’re tracking the next phase of crypto’s evolution—especially around payments and tokenization—XRP, Stellar, and the broader regulatory landscape are areas to watch closely.