Have you noticed what’s happening with XRP lately? The conversation around it is shifting — not from tech to hype, but toward something much more important: value capture. Investors are no longer just asking, “What does XRP do?” but rather, “How can XRP return value to the people who hold it?”
This idea recently gained traction after comments from Matt Hogan, the Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise. When someone at that level signals a structural shift for XRP, it’s worth paying attention.
What Is “Value Capture,” Really?
Think of value capture as the moment a token stops being just a utility pass and becomes an asset that directly rewards holders.
Hogan uses UNI as the perfect example. Initially, UNI was just a governance token — you could vote, but it didn’t do much economically. Today, a portion of Uniswap’s trading fees goes toward buying and burning UNI, which boosts the value of every remaining token.
That’s genuine value capture.
Now the Big Point: Why XRP Might Be Next
The emerging thesis is simple but powerful:
XRP may be moving into a phase where holders could receive direct economic benefits.
Until now, XRP’s price moved mostly on sentiment, adoption narratives, or macro crypto trends. But as Hogan highlights, the conversation is evolving. The community is beginning to explore mechanisms such as staking — the ability to earn passive yield simply by holding XRP.
If XRP ever introduces native staking or similar features, it completely changes what the token represents. It stops being only a transactional asset and begins functioning like a yield-bearing instrument — the crypto equivalent of a dividend stock.
Why Now? Two Words: Regulatory Clarity
For years, implementing value-capture mechanisms was risky. Regulators, especially in the U.S., could easily interpret yield or rewards as indicators of a security.
Because of that fear, many major projects — including XRP — held back from offering anything beyond pure utility.
But after Ripple’s partial legal victory, something changed:
Confidence.
With clearer regulatory boundaries, XRP now has more room to experiment with staking, burn mechanisms, or fee-based rewards without triggering immediate legal threats. This opens the door for a major economic transformation.
The Bigger Picture: Following ETH and UNI’s Path
Look at what happened with Ethereum.
After the EIP-1559 upgrade, a large portion of ETH began getting burned, and with the Dencun upgrade improving L2 efficiency, revenue capture on Ethereum is increasing even more.
UNI moved from governance-only to value-accruing.
ETH evolved into a yield-generating and deflationary asset.
XRP could be the next major token to make that transition.
Final Thoughts
If XRP embraces these mechanisms, it could enter a new era — evolving from just a transfer asset to a token that naturally captures and distributes value to its holders.
So the key question becomes:
Do you still view XRP as a speculative play…
or are you beginning to see it as a future source of passive income?
Share your thoughts below.
$XRP #xrp $ETH #Ripple #XRP