Mr. David Schwartz: Usage, Not Price, Reveals XRP’s Real Value

Company Ripple CTO Mr. David Schwartz argues that price alone misleads when assessing the true worth of a digital asset. In his view, XRP’s real value is measured by real-world usage: transaction volume, liquidity depth, settlement speed, and integration with financial systems. This perspective reframes the debate from short-term speculation to long-term infrastructural utility.

Transactions and settlement: XRP’s ledger has settled billions of transactions with near-instant finality and minimal fees, demonstrating a payment rail engineered for high-throughput institutional flows rather than purely retail speculation. These characteristics make XRP attractive as a settlement layer for cross-border payments and intraday liquidity management.

Liquidity as a backbone: According to Mr. David Schwartz, liquidity is central to meaningful adoption. Unlike tokens with sporadic trading bursts, XRP exhibits consistent and deep liquidity across exchanges and corridors, enabling large-scale transfers without extraordinary slippage. This liquidity profile supports the token’s role in real capital movements and enterprise-grade payment solutions rather than mere paper gains.

Institutional integration: The CTO highlights that leading financial players are issuing and moving assets on-chain, leveraging XRP as a settlement and payment mechanism. Such institutional usage signals trust in the network’s operational capabilities and regulatory-compliant workflows. As more financial products and rails adopt XRP for liquidity and settlement, mainstream adoption follows the path historically seen with Bitcoin and Ethereum.

From hype to infrastructure: The narrative Mr. Schwartz presents parallels the evolution of other major cryptocurrencies: initial speculative interest gives way to appreciating technology’s real-world utility. For XRP, this transition emphasizes on-chain transaction metrics, corridor liquidity, and partnerships with regulated entities as the real indicators of long-term value.

Measuring adoption: To assess XRP beyond price action, the CTO recommends focusing on:

• Transaction volume and throughput — how much actual value is moved on the ledger?
• Liquidity depth — can large trades execute without destructive slippage?
• Institutional engagement — are banks, payment providers, and enterprises using XRP for settlement?
• Financial integration — are on-chain assets and rails being embedded into existing financial systems?

Why this matters: Price volatility often captures headlines, but it can mask structural adoption that unfolds over years. When a network reliably enables high-volume, low-cost settlement and is trusted by regulated institutions, its utility becomes a much stronger foundation for long-term value than transient retail-driven price spikes.

Conclusion: Mr. David Schwartz reframes the conversation on XRP: rather than chasing short-term price narratives, stakeholders and observers should track real-world usage metrics. Deep liquidity, sustained transaction volumes, and growing institutional adoption are the markers of a network evolving into a foundational financial infrastructure. In this context, price is only one signal — and often a noisy one — while usage tells the lasting story.