A new theory about $XRP’s market cap is getting attention for its focus on what could happen if massive amounts of capital move over to the $XRP Ledger.

Crypto commentator Rob Cunningham argues that if $10 trillion moves onto the $XRP Ledger, it could eventually support a multi-trillion-dollar value for $XRP, assuming a big chunk of that capital has to be converted into $XRP and held there.

Cunningham’s post is clearly presented as a thought experiment rather than a price prediction.

His point is that just because a lot of capital is moving around on a blockchain doesn’t mean all of it has to flow into the network’s native token. The central question is how much of that $10 trillion would actually need $XRP for liquidity, bridging, collateral, or investment.

Cunningham also points to an example where about $66 million in net inflows into $XRP lined up with a roughly $45 billion jump in $XRP’s total market cap. That works out to a ratio of more than 600 to 1 between the money reportedly flowing into $XRP and the resulting change in its market value.

However, this shouldn’t be interpreted as a permanent 600x multiplier. Market cap is the token’s price multiplied by its circulating supply, so even small changes in marginal buying or selling can move the value of the entire supply.

XRPL Growth and Tokenized Assets

For $XRP to truly surpass Bitcoin by market capitalization, the barrier is sizable. On September 25, Bitcoin’s market cap was around $1.70 trillion, while $XRP’s was about $99 billion. So, $XRP would need to grow its value approximately 17 times over if Bitcoin’s price stayed flat.

Still, the XRPL growth is attracting attention. Ripple says the ledger has moved more than $1 trillion in value and is being built out for tokenization, payments, trading, custody, and other institutional finance uses.

Recent data from Evernorth’s $XRP Liquidity report shows total value held on the XRPL reached about $4.26 billion in Q2, driven by growth in tokenized assets and RLUSD, while order-book trading volume rose 79% year over year.

The theory underscores XRPL’s potential scale, but the link between network growth and $XRP’s price is not automatic. While tokenization and liquidity use cases are expanding, the extent to which capital flows translate into sustained demand for $XRP will ultimately determine its long-term valuation.

Related: $XRP Ledger Permission Delegation Upgrade Targets October 5