XRP has recently become bullish in the short term due to institutional channels from the Brazil ETF and CME futures. Its advantages in cross-border payments (3-second settlement, low fees) remain competitive in interbank settlements, and an increase in Ripple's partner banks will boost demand. However, it is difficult to challenge BTC/ETH in the long term: 1) excessive centralization (Ripple controls over 50%); 2) lack of smart contracts leading to a weak ecosystem; 3) SEC regulatory risks have not been fully resolved. XRP is suitable as a payment sector allocation, but its market value (30 billion) and consensus are far from BTC (store of value) and ETH (smart contracts), making the probability of challenging the leading position low. The key lies in whether it can upgrade to support smart contracts and improve decentralization.
