Veteran trader Peter Brandt has dismissed XRP as a "fool coin" while his own technical analysis points to a $5.40 price target. Versan Aljarrah, founder of Black Swan Capitalist, contested the contradiction, arguing that a price target represents a trade and says nothing about an asset's underlying value or utility.
Brandt's Case Against XRP
Brandt, who has traded markets for more than 40 years, has questioned whether XRP's transactional use case justifies investment value. He argues that utility alone does not make an asset inherently valuable, drawing a comparison to the US dollar, which people use for transactions but do not purchase based on its functionality.
His concerns center on three points: that price discovery will eventually force the market to determine XRP's real value, that the asset's supply situation remains unclear, and that until market-driven valuation occurs, the investment thesis remains unproven. Brandt has viewed Ether and Solana more favorably and has cautioned investors against pursuing newer cryptocurrency tokens.
Aljarrah's Rebuttal
Aljarrah objected to framing price predictions and fundamental analysis as equivalent. "A chart doesn't care what the person drawing it believes," he said, emphasizing that Brandt's $5.40 target indicates a potential price level, not a reason why XRP matters as an asset.
Aljarrah identified three developments he says Brandt overlooks: a US court ruling that programmatic sales of XRP were not securities, the closure of the SEC case, Ripple's acquisitions in prime brokerage and corporate treasury services, the launch of its regulated stablecoin RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, and the existence of regulated investment products tied to XRP that give institutions access through established channels.
Framing the Debate
While Aljarrah acknowledged that XRP's ultimate role as a bridge asset for global settlement remains uncertain, he argued that dismissing the fundamentals ignores ongoing shifts in payments, tokenization, and settlement infrastructure. He stated that investors should develop their own thesis, use charts as analytical tools rather than predictions, and establish entry and exit plans in advance.
