Why XRP (Ripple) Is Soaring Today

Key Points

• Ripple announced a major new acquisition on Thursday, leading to today's spike.

• Ripple says the acquisition builds a "comprehensive" stablecoin solution.

• Investors hope this will drive XRP demand.

• 10 stocks we like better than XRP ›

XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) is gaining on Friday. From 4 p.m. ET yesterday, the cryptocurrency is up 5.1% as of 3:52 p.m. ET. The move comes as Bitcoin was mostly flat.

Ripple, the company behind XRP, announced a major acquisition that could help boost XRP demand.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

Ripple is betting on stablecoins

Ripple announced yesterday that it has agreed to purchase Rail, a stablecoin platform, for $200 million. Ripple says that the acquisition will deliver the "most comprehensive stable coin payment solution on the market."

Ripple is trying to take advantage of the excitement around stablecoin adoption. With the recent passage of the Genius Act, stablecoins could become a substantial part of the traditional financial system.

Image source: Getty Images.

Ripple President Monica Long said in a statement that with the acquisition, "Ripple was uniquely positioned to drive the next phase of innovation and adoption of stablecoins and blockchain and global payments."

While investors appeared to believe the acquisition would lead to increased adoption of XRP itself, it's not clear yet how much this will hold true.

XRP could be overvalued

It's possible that, like other aspects of Ripple's business, Rail won't directly translate to XRP adoption.

I continue to have doubts about its valuation. To be sure, XRP is a crypto with real-world utility already in widespread use -- and in a world of meme coins that is worth something -- but I'm not sure its current market cap of nearly $200 billion makes sense.

Should you invest $1,000 in XRP right now?

Before you buy stock in XRP, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and XRP wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $636,563!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,108,033!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,047% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 181% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025

Johnny Rice has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.