A new discussion has emerged among XRP community figures about Ripple’s ultimate mission, whether it has always been centered on the price of XRP. In a tweet, software engineer Vincent Van Code argued that the company’s long-term play has always been about the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and XRP itself. In his view, the goal isn’t stablecoins or cross-border payments but rather building global on-chain liquidity through the XRPL. “It’s Always Been About XRP Price” Responding to Van Code, XRP influencer Digital Asset Investor echoed a sentiment long held by many in the community. He claimed Ripple’s entire business model depends on the eventual growth of XRP’s price. In perspective, with XRP currently trading at $2.40, every $1 increase in price would add approximately $40 billion to Ripple’s balance sheet. This underscores the strong alignment between Ripple’s success and XRP’s market performance. Divided Opinions on Ripple’s Execution Meanwhile, not all community members agree with the “XRP-first” theory. A prominent X user, Fishy Catfish, criticized Ripple’s strategic choices, claiming that the company’s decision to issue 90% of RLUSD on Ethereum shows a lack of confidence in the XRPL. Notably, RLUSD has a total supply approaching 900 million. According to CryptoQuant data, only 92.5 million RLUSD is on the XRPL, while the overwhelming majority resides on Ethereum. “Not even Ripple wants to use XRP or XRPL,” Fishy Catfish wrote, calling XRPL “an obsolete, irrelevant ghost chain.” Another user, Crypto School, pointed out that Ripple’s cross-border focus has always involved using XRP as a bridge asset over the past 13 years — and questioned whether the company might now be pursuing something different, as Van Code hinted. Ripple’s Quiet XRP-Driven Endgame Despite differing opinions, analysts note that Ripple’s ongoing partnerships with institutions such as Evernorth, GTreasury, and SBI Holdings demonstrate its commitment to expanding real-world XRP use cases. Additionally, the firm is backing ongoing efforts to establish the largest public XRP treasury, aiming to adopt MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin accumulation playbook to drive future price appreciation. Essentially, Ripple’s silence on XRP price discussions doesn’t negate its reliance on the asset’s success. Rather, it reflects a strategic necessity to avoid regulatory scrutiny. As Ripple continues to build institutional liquidity rails and integrate the XRPL into global finance, many in the XRP community believe the writing is on the wall that the endgame is about XRP’s value.