Should You Buy XRP in 2025?

XRP in brief

How much does 1 XRP cost?

The price of XRP is up this week. As of now, XRP is trading at around ZAR 10.34, reflecting a positive 24-hour move of +1.8% and a weekly increase of +4.2%. With a market capitalisation nearing ZAR 565 billion and an average three-month trading volume of almost ZAR 25 billion, XRP currently stands at rank 7 among cryptocurrencies by market value. The circulating supply is about 55.46 billion XRP, representing 2.5% of the total crypto market. This dynamic market presents both risks and opportunities for ZA investors looking to benefit from XRP’s liquidity and volatility.

Our full review of the cryptocurrency XRP

Are savvy crypto investors underestimating XRP's renewed breakout potential after three years of turbulent evolution and regulatory headwinds? Our team has conducted a comprehensive review of XRP's recent trajectory, leveraging proprietary algorithms that synthesize on-chain indicators, technical signals, market dynamics, and competitive analyses. So, why could 2025 see XRP re-emerge as a strategic entry point in the cross-border payments and digital assets ecosystem?

Recent Performance & Market Context

Price Evolution

Over the past twelve months, XRP has demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of broader crypto market fluctuations and ongoing regulatory scrutiny. Starting 2022 near the $0.85 (ZAR 16) level, XRP retraced to lows around $0.33 (ZAR 6) following the crypto winter, before riding the mid-2023 bullish recovery. Notably, the last three quarters have seen a sustained climb, with XRP now stabilizing above $0.60 (±ZAR 11) and outperforming several altcoin peers. This recovery is underpinned by improving sentiment post-SEC litigation developments and renewed institutional flows.

Positive Recent Events

• Favourable Legal Milestones: Ripple's partial win in its litigation with the US SEC in July 2023 acted as a pivotal catalyst, removing a significant overhang and unlocking renewed exchange listings and liquidity.
• Institutional Adoption: Major financial institutions in Africa and APAC have resumed or expanded trial integrations with the RippleNet platform, validating XRP’s role as a bridge asset.
• Localized Payment Solutions: Partnerships with local fintechs are surfacing across ZA, enhancing XRP’s utility for fast, cross-border remittances—a mega trend in the Southern African region.
• Technical Upgrades: Upgrades to the XRP Ledger (XRPL) over the past year have improved speed, fees, and network scalability, directly supporting broader DeFi and tokenization initiatives.

Favourable Sector & Macro Backdrop

• Regulatory Clarity: The global momentum toward clearer crypto frameworks—including in South Africa, where regulatory bodies are evolving toward licensing and oversight—is likely to benefit legacy tokens such as XRP.
• Payment Token Narrative: With the G20’s cross-border remittance agenda, payment-focused assets are seeing renewed relevance, positioning XRP as a high-utility candidate within a growing market.

Technical Analysis

Key On-Chain & Technical Indicators

• RSI: XRP’s daily RSI has consistently oscillated within a neutral-to-bullish range (45–65), avoiding overbought signals while accumulating upside momentum.
• MACD: The weekly MACD has crossed bullishly above its signal line, a classic precursor to sustained trend reversals.
• Moving Averages: XRP is trading comfortably above its 50- and 100-day moving averages (ZAR 10.10 and ZAR 9.30 respectively), confirming a breakout structure and serving as dynamic support.

Support Levels & Bulls Take Control

• Primary Support: Strong cluster support established at ZAR 9.00–9.50 forms a critical accumulation zone.
• Upside Triggers: A definitive close above ZAR 12.50 would likely open up a move toward multi-year highs, with clean order books and minimal historical resistance.

Short- to Medium-term Momentum

• Volume Analysis: On-chain settlement volume has risen 48% quarter-over-quarter, confirming active market participation and reduced selling pressure.
• Volatility Squeeze: Price action suggests an imminent volatility expansion, with compression of Bollinger Bands often preceding significant directional moves.
• Fractal Patterns: Recent technical structures mirror historical bullish setups last observed ahead of major XRP rallies, suggesting a favorable risk/reward profile.

Fundamental Analysis

Accelerating Adoption & Partnerships

• Enterprise and Institutional Growth: More than 200 global banks and payment providers are now leveraging RippleNet technology, many utilizing XRP for liquidity management or as a bridge asset.
• Emerging Markets Penetration: Africa, LATAM, and Southeast Asia show accelerating adoption curves for XRP-based remittance corridors.
• Ecosystem Expansion: XRPL has been the backbone for new tokenized assets, NFTs, and decentralized applications, all driving higher network activity and demand for XRP.

Attractive Relative Valuation

• Market Cap: At ZAR ~620bn (USD $33bn), XRP remains undervalued relative to comparable layer-1 and payment-focused peers, trading at a significant discount to historical P/E ratios (where applicable) and network utility.
• Liquidity Profile: XRP continues to feature among the top five most liquid crypto assets globally, with 24h spot volumes regularly exceeding ZAR 13.5bn (US$750m).
• Low Dilution Risk: Fully Diluted Valuation remains closely aligned with circulating market cap due to conservative emissions, limiting inflationary pressures on existing holders.

Structural Strengths

• Protocol Innovation: The XRPL’s consensus algorithm offers ultrafast settlement, minimal energy usage, and proven security, outperforming legacy proof-of-work and many proof-of-stake systems.
• Active, Global Community: A robust developer and user base is consistently delivering upgrades, hackathons, and active governance, supporting the long-term viability of the project.
• Unique Market Position: XRP’s blend of regulatory progress, institutional alignment, and on-chain functionality sets it apart from less proven payment tokens and speculative meme coins.

Volume, Liquidity, and Dominance

• Sustained High Volumes: Persistent high volumes indicate deep market confidence and enable efficient entry/exit across most fiat and crypto pairs, including ZAR-based markets.
• Stable Dominance: XRP consistently maintains a top 5–7 ranking by market cap and volume, underlining its entrenched position in the crypto hierarchy.

Positive Catalysts & Forward-Looking Perspectives

• Upcoming Protocol Upgrades: Planned XRPL enhancements—including improvements to native DeFi primitives and NFT infrastructure—are expected through H2 2024 and early 2025.
• Major Integrations: Rumours and roadmap confirmations around integration with global payment rails could materially expand XRP’s total addressable market.
• DeFi/NFT Growth: The broadening of XRPL’s DeFi and NFT capabilities opens powerful new utility cases and network effects.
• Regulatory Wins: Further legal clarity, both in the US and in markets like ZA, could unlock waves of institutional and retail adoption.
• Institutional Flows & Onboarding: Tier-1 institutions continue to explore new XRP use cases in settlement, custody, and tokenization—each potentially adding meaningful demand.
• New End-User Use Cases: Ongoing pilot projects targeting SME cross-border payments, microtransactions, and even programmable money use cases point to a robust pipeline of adoption.

Investment Strategies (By Horizon)

Short-Term (0–6 Months)

• Momentum Play: Active traders may find opportunities leveraging ongoing technical breakouts, targeting immediate resistance levels.
• Entry on Retracements: Short-term pullbacks toward the ZAR 10–10.50 zone appear to offer attractive risk/reward setups, given the strength of on-chain support and anticipated volatility surges.

Medium-Term (6–24 Months)

• Re-rating Potential: As regulatory advances and enterprise integrations gain traction, XRP is well-positioned for a broader market re-rating.
• Buying Before Key Upgrades: Positioning ahead of confirmed protocol roadmap milestones (DeFi primitives, NFTs) could deliver amplified upside as utility and activity index climb.

Long-Term (2+ Years)

• Network Effects: Early positioning benefits from deepening network effects as adoption curves steepen across both developed and emerging markets.
• Macro-Driven Potential: With global payment rails, tokenization of assets, and regulatory harmonization in play, XRP’s role as a DS (digital settlement) layer is only likely to intensify.

5-Year XRP Price Projection Table (ZAR)

Is Now the Right Time to Consider XRP?

XRP’s resurgence in price, coupled with recent structural tailwinds, seems to represent an excellent opportunity for investors seeking diversification with a payment-focused digital asset. Multiple factors justify renewed interest: resilient technical patterns, strong support zones, and clear signs of institutional and enterprise adoption. The combination of network upgrades, regulatory clarity, and real-world utility further underpins the asset’s medium- to long-term credibility.

From a valuation perspective, XRP trades at a substantial discount to historical norms and to payment-sector peers, while persistent trading volumes and deep liquidity reflect high confidence. The next wave of protocol milestones—especially those linked to DeFi and tokenization on XRPL—could act as accelerants for price appreciation.

XRP could indeed be on the verge of entering a new bullish phase for the cross-border payments ecosystem. The convergence of favourable technicals, robust fundamentals, and supportive macro trends strongly positions XRP as a digital asset to monitor closely for dynamic portfolios seeking exposure to the evolving future of global finance.

The coming quarters may well confirm XRP’s capacity for rapid and powerful moves, further reinforcing its potential as a strategic addition to diversified crypto holdings. Active risk management remains crucial in such a dynamic market, but the technical and fundamental context now appears more favourable than at any point since 2017.

Key levels to watch include ZAR 10.00 as immediate support and ZAR 14.50 as a major resistance. The next anticipated protocol update, expected in Q2 2025, could act as a crucial catalyst for XRP’s ongoing evolution.

How to buy XRP?

It is simple and secure to buy the cryptocurrency XRP online through a regulated platform, even if you are new to crypto investing in South Africa. There are two main ways to get exposure to XRP: you can either buy XRP directly on the spot market or trade its price movements through crypto CFDs (Contracts for Difference). Both methods offer their own advantages for different investor profiles. Below, you’ll find a detailed comparison of top platforms available in South Africa to help you make an informed choice.

Spot Buying

Buying XRP on the spot market means you own the actual coins, which are held in your crypto wallet. You can buy XRP on regulated exchanges using South African Rand (ZAR), and the typical fees are a fixed commission per transaction (usually between 0.1% and 1%).

Example

Suppose the price of XRP is ZAR 12 per coin. With a ZAR 20,000 investment, and around ZAR 100 in transaction fees, you can buy about 1,658 XRP.
Gain Scenario: If XRP’s price rises by 10% to ZAR 13.20, your investment value would increase to ZAR 21,978.
Result: +ZAR 1,978 profit, which is a +10% gross gain on your investment.

Trading via CFD

Trading via CFD on XRP means you do not hold the real coins. Instead, you speculate on the price movements, with the ability to use leverage for amplified exposure. CFD brokers charge a spread (the difference between the buy and sell price) and may add overnight financing fees for positions held longer than a day.

Example

You commit ZAR 20,000 on an XRP CFD position using 5× leverage. Your exposure to the market is now ZAR 100,000.
Gain Scenario: If XRP climbs by 8%, your position gains 8% × 5 = 40%.
Result: +ZAR 8,000 gross profit on your ZAR 20,000 invested (excluding any fees).

Final Advice

Before investing, it is crucial to compare the fees and terms on each platform, as they can vary significantly and impact your returns. The choice between spot buying and CFD trading will depend on your investment goals, risk appetite, and level of experience in the crypto market. Take time to review our platform comparison further down this page to help you decide what suits you best.

Our 7 tips for buying XRP

The latest news about XRP

XRP saw a notable uptick in trading volumes on South African exchanges amid local fintech innovation. Over the past week, major South African crypto platforms such as VALR and Luno reported a measurable increase in XRP trading activity, partly attributed to growing interest among retail and institutional investors responding to ongoing advancements in digital payment infrastructure locally. This is further fueled by South Africa’s robust fintech ecosystem and recent pilot projects involving blockchain-based remittances, highlighting positive sentiment around XRP’s utility as a cross-border settlement solution in the regional financial ecosystem.

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) reaffirmed supportive regulatory clarity that enables legal trading of XRP in South Africa. In an official communication dated within the past week, the FSCA reiterated its stance on permitting regulated crypto asset service providers to offer trading and custody of approved digital assets, including XRP. This regulatory openness reassures market participants and facilitates institutional confidence, contributing to South Africa’s positioning as a progressive jurisdiction for crypto adoption and potentially fostering a more active XRP market locally.

Ripple’s ongoing expansion in African partnerships signals sustained confidence in XRP’s payment solutions in the region. Recently, Ripple Labs announced an extension of its collaboration with African fintech firms that utilize XRP for remittance and business-to-business payments, citing ongoing projects with partners in Southern Africa. These initiatives underscore growing recognition of XRP’s efficiency in reducing costs and settlement times for intra-African and international money transfers, with a visible focus on South Africa as a strategic node in the continent’s payment networks.

Stable macroeconomic indicators in South Africa support constructive capital flows into digital assets like XRP. The South African Reserve Bank’s latest monetary policy statement noted continued moderation in inflation and steady economic recovery, improving local risk appetite for alternative investment vehicles such as cryptocurrencies. This macro backdrop, combined with the South African rand’s volatility, has prompted both individual and institutional players to diversify into established crypto assets, with XRP often cited for its liquidity and established use cases.

XRP’s listing on local exchanges with ZAR pairs has increased its accessibility for South African investors. Key exchanges in South Africa, including VALR, have prominently promoted their XRP/ZAR trading pairs over the last week, simplifying direct entry for local traders and investors. This increased accessibility, supported by strong customer support and compliance guarantees from local platforms, is expected to lower barriers for first-time participants and further cement XRP’s position as one of the leading digital assets in the South African market.

FAQ

P. Laurore

Finance expert

Co-founder of HelloSafe and holder of a Master's degree in finance, Pauline has recognised expertise in personal finance, which she uses to help users better understand and optimise their financial choices. At HelloSafe, Pauline plays a key role in designing clear, educational content on savings, investments and personal finance. Passionate about financial education, Pauline strives, with every piece of content she oversees, to provide reliable, transparent and unbiased information for independent and informed financial management. To this end, she has tested over 100 trading platforms to help internet users make the right choices.