For years, XRP has not shown notable gains even during rally phases in the cryptocurrency market, disappointing investors. As speculative surges centered on bitcoin (BTC) and meme coins repeated, XRP stayed relatively flat and the perception spread that it was an "undervalued asset". But Black Swan Capital founder Bersan Aljarrah (버산 알자르) said that assessment itself stems from misunderstanding XRP.

On Jan. 24, blockchain media outlet The Crypto Basic reported that Aljarrah said, "XRP is not an asset for the hype cycle," and argued that judging XRP in the same frame as speculative assets is a fundamental error. He said XRP is not a speculative target aimed at price spikes but a payment asset designed to operate when the traditional financial system cannot efficiently handle large-scale fund transfers. He said assessing XRP's performance by short-term price moves alone is incomplete and its real-world usability and structural role should also be considered.

Aljarrah also stressed that XRP is still trading within the global liquidity structure. The current crypto market is formed around bitcoin, and bitcoin is closely linked to debt markets and global liquidity, and further to the U.S. dollar system. As long as XRP remains within that structure, its price has no choice but to face the same constraints, he said. He also pointed to limits in that stablecoins are spreading but are still based on fiat currencies, and large-scale payments have no choice but to rely on existing financial infrastructure.

He saw XRP's true value as emerging not from market sentiment or bull-market phases, but when the existing financial system comes under pressure. When payments become truly necessary - when liquidity bottlenecks or systemic stress occur - demand rises for alternative payment mechanisms, and XRP's design could be used in earnest in that process, he argued. Aljarrah added that XRP does not need to win a popularity contest or create constant hype.

Separately, Canary Capital CEO Steven McClurg (스티븐 맥클러그) raised the possibility that XRP could show a different price pattern from bitcoin in the future. In a recent podcast, he said bitcoin had already peaked at about $126,200 in October 2025 and then fell 36 percent, and could face an additional 20 to 30 percent correction. Most altcoins generally follow bitcoin's moves, but in this cycle, projects with real-world use cases could move independently, he said.

McClurg said it is likely that the crypto market in 2026 will be reshaped around real-world asset tokenisation and stablecoins, and that the XRP Ledger (XRPL) is one platform that can respond relatively well to such change. But he stayed cautious about the size of any XRP rise. He said that even when bitcoin is falling, XRP is more likely to be limited to low double-digit gains rather than surge. Some critics are raising counterarguments that his outlook is overly optimistic or lacks realism.