Crypto investors have another bumper year, as one Bitcoin is more expensive than a kilo of gold. Bitcoin was peaking above $106,500 in Asian hours on Monday, and is worth just below $103,000 after an intraday retracement. A market boom in the major crypto pair, of course, continues to strengthen competitive advantages of most prominent altcoins like Ripple. Previously, I shared the news about filling the quasi-official U.S. basket of crypto reserves, with a significant proportion of Ripple (XRP) inside it. XRPUSD has since climbed from $1.85 in early April to a high of $2.65 in mid-May, a more than 40% surge at peaks, and is now retreating to a $2.30 area and possibly a little bit further down, only walking ahead of a widely-expected minor retreat in BTCUSD before rising more up to conquer new highs. Standard Chartered's long-term forecast for XRPUSD is that it will gradually work out its potential to touch $5.50 by the end of 2025 and could reach as high as $8.00 during 2026, which I wholeheartedly agree with, leaving plenty of room upside.

I feel it would be reasonable to take advantage of even this 13%-15% discount for Ripple today or tomorrow without long delay, so as not to be left aside and then totally out of the next wave of a crypto uptrend. I fear all those darlings of fortune who wait to buy much lower may eventually be forced to buy higher or suck lemons. The general upside move is perfectly reflected in this, perhaps, the third most famous cryptocurrency, as its dynamics will most likely exceed the top two, meaning Bitcoin and Ethereum. I would expect more insights from the crypto world in the coming days, which I will be happy to share.

Very opportunely, last weekend, Dave Portnoy, an internet celebrity who visited the Consensus 2025 blockchain and crypto event, shared his view of XRP, Bitcoin and meme coins and admitted he is betting on XRP. A man who announced his plan to buy $10 million worth of Bitcoin in 2024 with the profit from his own company's shares is now saying that Ripple could be next Bitcoin, as Portnoy believes there is "a 100% FOMO on everything", where FOMO is a popular abbreviation for "fear of missing out", a worried feeling that one may miss exciting events that other people are going to use. He doubts that this fear of missing out touches Bitcoin now, since it is a well-established asset already, but there is a strong FOMO now about Ripple. “That’s why I’m in XRP, it's FOMO”, he added. Since Ripple now costs about $2.3, like Bitcoin when it first started, he mentioned that perhaps XRP could be the next Bitcoin. Portnoy just shared an experience from his past when he wanted to own a particular apartment in Miami and he was outbid by a Bitcoin holder, who bought BTC first when it cost about $7-$8. Who knows, but maybe some Ripple holders would be able to buy an apartment some day for their Ripples, that's maybe a joke but maybe not.