Investment strategist Raoul Pal suggests that XRP has strong appeal among everyday investors seeking entry into crypto.
Despite being at the center of the long-running legal battle between the U.S. SEC and Ripple, which previously led to mass delistings from top exchanges, XRP has managed to hold on to its place as a top cryptocurrency by market cap over the years. Recently, Real Vision CEO Raoul Pal has shed light on one likely reason why.
XRP Commands Normie Appeal
Raoul Pal has suggested that the average person is likely to buy XRP when they come into the crypto market. The investment strategist noted this in an X post on Thursday, January 2, critiquing the current AI Agent craze in crypto.
AI agents are autonomous software that leverages AI to interact with the blockchain. Made popular by Truth Terminal, the bot associated with the popular Goatseus Maximus (GOAT) meme coin, these new crypto market players have been tipped to revolutionize everything from on-chain transactions to portfolio management. It also helps that most iterations are tokenized, allowing proponents to gain from an AI agent’s popularity.
Pal, however, has expressed the view that the craze, which is increasingly gaining ground as a key crypto meta for 2025, is a fad. He suggested that the narrative only took off because high-risk market players were seeking a new thrill.
“Fartcoin funny. Holds attention. Ai16z not interesting to normies. They’ll come in an [sic] buy XRP anyway,” Pal wrote, suggesting a potential lack of market fit for AI agents while highlighting XRP’s appeal.
Possible Reasons
While Pal does not go into details, there are various reasons why XRP is likely to appeal to everyday users seeking entry into crypto. These include low fees, relative lack of complexity, and its contested association with Ripple, a recognized software firm with a strong reputation in payments.
These are some of the factors that have allowed the crypto to build a “cult-like” following over the years, as Pal aptly put it in a video that made the rounds in August 2024.
Notably, the Real Vision co-founder has not always been optimistic about XRP’s prospects. At the time, he advised XRP investors to stop holding on to the crypto, which he described as “irrelevant,” in favor of following the market momentum to newer offerings.
He was, however, soon forced to eat his words as XRP mounted a blistering 475% rally between November 2024 and early December 2024, outperforming the broader crypto market.
The rally was sparked by market optimism following Donald Trump’s election victory. Many anticipate that the incoming administration will bring further clarity to the asset that the current SEC had tried to label a security.
