XRP as Financial Infrastructure Investment: Opportunities and Risks Identified by 21Shares

"Regulatory Relief · Institutional Accessibility · Real Use Cases · Supply Constraints" - Four Investment Attractions

"Not a Core Asset Like Bitcoin, The Connection Between Network Growth and XRP Value Needs Validation"

21Shares "Betting on Institutional Payment Growth"

[Block Media Reporter Lee Jeong-hwa] Global digital asset management firm 21Shares has conducted a comprehensive analysis of the investment logic of XRP, its actual use cases, and portfolio utilization.

While the XRP Ledger (XRPL) is expanding its domain from payments to stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets (RWA), it has been evaluated that the connection between network growth and XRP price increase still needs to be validated.

In an investment report published on the 2nd, 21Shares released a four-part series analysis on its website, covering everything from XRP's technical background to investment factors.

21Shares assessed XRP as a technological asset that invests in the growth potential of institutional financial infrastructure rather than a simple altcoin. However, considering its high volatility and limited diversification effects, it analyzed that it is more appropriate to approach it as a 'satellite asset' rather than a core asset like Bitcoin (BTC).

XRP and Ripple Are Different... "Designed for Financial Infrastructure"

21Shares emphasized the need to distinguish between XRP, XRPL, and Ripple. XRPL is an open public blockchain, and XRP is the native asset of this network. Ripple is a private technology company that develops payment and custody infrastructure on top of XRPL.

XRPL was launched in 2012. Transactions are processed in about 3 to 5 seconds, with costs around $0.0002 per transaction. It handles approximately 1.7 million transactions per day, with over 150 known validators.

The supply of XRP is fixed at 100 billion from the start, with no additional issuance. A small amount of XRP is burned as a fee whenever a transaction occurs. To date, over 14 million XRP have been burned.

21Shares explained that the core purpose of XRP is as a 'bridge asset' for cross-border payments. Instead of going through multiple steps with existing foreign exchange banks, the currency to be remitted is converted to XRP and sent on XRPL, then converted back to the destination currency. Japanese SBI Holdings and Malaysian payment company Tranglo are utilizing the related infrastructure.

However, the role of XRP is expanding beyond payments. A decentralized exchange (DEX) at the protocol level has been established on XRPL. The functions of issuing, trading, and settling stablecoins and tokenized assets are also being expanded.

Beyond Payments to Stablecoins and RWA

One area of focus for 21Shares is the actual usage of XRPL. In the past year, approximately $1.3 billion worth of on-chain value has been settled daily on the network, totaling around $500 billion.

Ripple's dollar stablecoin RLUSD has grown to about $1.6 billion. By mid-2026, more than half of the total RLUSD supply is expected to circulate on XRPL.

The scale of tokenized assets on XRPL has also increased to about $4 billion. Using the Multi-Purpose Token (MPT) standard, real assets like bonds or funds can be issued as tokens with regulatory compliance conditions.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) is still in relatively early stages. 21Shares estimates the DeFi scale on XRPL to be over $30 million. Lending, automated market makers (AMM), and yield-generating applications are being added on top of the payment infrastructure.

Importantly, XRPL growth should not be equated with XRP price. Even if tokenized bonds or RLUSD move on XRPL, they are not necessarily traded in XRP. The direct role of XRP is limited to transaction fees and minimum reserves required for account maintenance.

Ultimately, the hypothesis that the more financial activities occur on XRPL, the greater the demand for XRP must be validated. 21Shares evaluated that it is still under review how much the increase in network usage will lead to token value appreciation.

Regulations and ETFs Are Positive Factors... However, "Not a Core Asset"

The investment environment is assessed to have improved compared to before. 21Shares analyzed that the regulatory uncertainty surrounding XRP has significantly decreased as the legal dispute between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) comes to an end.

Access pathways for institutional investors have also expanded. According to 21Shares, seven XRP spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been launched in the U.S. since November 2025. In the first month, approximately $1.3 billion flowed in, marking a record of continuous net inflows for the initial 55 trading days.

However, 21Shares did not classify XRP as a core asset in a portfolio.

Bitcoin has the character of a scarce asset that hedges against currency value depreciation risks. Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) are more strongly characterized as technology platforms investing in the digitalization of financial services. XRP also falls into the second category, but its investment logic is relatively focused on a specific scenario of institutional payment and the adoption of tokenized financial infrastructure.

XRP as a Satellite Asset

21Shares classified such assets as 'satellite assets.' If the investment hypothesis materializes, high returns can be expected, but if it fails, significant losses must be endured.

In fact, XRP has seen several-fold increases in bull markets but has also dropped over 90% from its peak in bear markets. It tends to move with other altcoins in risk-averse phases, leading to a limited portfolio diversification effect at present.

Accordingly, 21Shares suggested an approach of first constructing core assets like Bitcoin and then adding assets with specific investment logic like XRP in limited proportions.

Ultimately, the investment logic of XRP depends on whether XRPL can grow into a new payment and asset issuance infrastructure for global finance. While it has been confirmed that network usage, RWA, and stablecoins are growing, how much this growth will be attributed to the value of XRP itself remains a key variable.