Monero Headed to $18k, Ripple Price Primed for 97% Crash: Research

Anonymity-centric cryptocurrency monero may be the best buy in crypto right now, and bitcoin’s not far behind. The ripple price (XRP), on the other hand, could be primed for a historic crash.

That’s according to a new report from initial coin offering advisory and research firm Satis Group, which attempts to forecast what shape the cryptocurrency market will take over the next decade. The real winner from the analysis is monero, currently the 11th-largest cryptocurrency, which Satis predicts could be worth $18,000 within the next five years. That represents a more than 18,200 percent increase from its present value, which stands at just over $98.

That bullish XMR forecast largely stems from the firm’s expectation that 90 percent or more of cryptoasset valuations over the next decade will be linked, not to decentralized applications (dApps) or other exciting use cases, but to penetration into the offshore deposits market. As a cryptocurrency that is not only uncensorable but also helps users obfuscate transaction data, monero stands to be one of the decade’s top gainers. Unsurprisingly, then, bitcoin also ranks among Satis’ highest-upside cryptoassets, with the firm predicting that the “digital gold” will eclipse the $96,000 mark in five years. This would give the flagship cryptocurrency a market cap well north of $1.5 trillion, enabling it to cement its dominant market position.

The analysts predict that XRP, which once traded as high as $3.84 and is now valued at $0.33, will crash another 97 percent over the next five years, ultimately declining to penny parity. Cardano will face a similar fate, plunging by 99 percent to just $0.001, as will stellar, which has a 91 percent drop-off on the horizon. Bitcoin cash and EOS also have bearish forecasts, and while their declines will not be quite so severe, it’s unlikely that at these valuations they will be used for anything beyond day trading and speculation.