XRP Was Never Designed To Be Dirt Cheap — JoelKatz Explains The Real Vision

For years, many have viewed XRP through the lens of price speculation, hoping it would remain cheap long enough to accumulate massive holdings. However, David Schwartz is pushing back on that narrative, making it clear that XRP was never designed to stay cheap. Instead, its value is deeply tied to its role as a high-efficiency bridge asset for global payments, where utility drives long-term pricing.

In a recent X post, Diana revealed that the Ripple ex-CTO David Joelkatz Schwartz has revisited one of his most widely discussed statements from 2017, that XRP “can’t be dirt cheap,” and clarified that the community has long misunderstood it. Many interpreted the comment through the lens of investor gains, but Schwartz now emphasized that this was from a payments perspective.

He explained that the statement was rooted in XRP’s role as a payment tool, not from a holder’s perspective. At the same time, he referred specifically to the mechanics of using XRP to move value across borders. From a payments standpoint, the dollar value of a transaction remains constant regardless of the XRP price.

However, if XRP is priced too low, significantly more tokens are required to process the same transactions. This creates more friction, slippage, and inefficiency for large flows. In contrast, a higher XRP price can make large-scale payment use efficient, not because holders need a pump, but because the system works better with fewer tokens.

Momentum around XRP continues to build as major players double down on its long-term prospects. An influencer and ambassador known as Ledger Man on X has noted that Yoshitaka Kitao, the CEO of Japan’s SBI Holdings, has reportedly expressed strong confidence in XRP’s future, even suggesting that the asset could become very expensive as adoption grows.

Related Reading: XRP Ledger Linked To SWIFT In New Wave Of Backend Integration Speculation

This outlook comes as SBI deepens its collaboration with Ripple, exploring new initiatives including RLUSD integration and blockchain-based bond solutions. Meanwhile, attention is turning to the expanding ecosystem around the XRP Ledger. 

In less than 10 days, RealFi is expected to unveil a major partnership, an announcement aimed at expanding XRPL globally. Powered by the REAL Token, the initiative is designed to introduce payment rewards across multiple industries, signaling a broader push to bring real-world utility to blockchain technology. 

Ledger Man emphasized that these developments highlight a growing convergence, and RealFi is rapidly gaining momentum.

The conversation around tokenization is gaining urgency at the highest levels of finance. According to Amelie’s post, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink had recently argued that the industry may be underestimating how rapidly every financial asset could become tokenized.

This broader vision appears to align with the developments on the XRP Ledger. On April 17th, a major global partnership is expected to launch on the XRPL, with REAL Token built on XRPL, it’s positioned to help power the ecosystem.