Veteran market trader Peter Brandt has reignited the debate over XRP after making pointed comments about the token’s most loyal supporters. Drawing from a career spanning more than five decades, Brandt grouped XRP alongside silver in describing markets where bullish beliefs often persist despite repeated price swings and long periods of disappointment.
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According to people familiar with his comments, Brandt based his criticism on personal trading history. He said he has handled thousands of contracts across commodities, stock benchmarks and digital assets, and argued that the “perma bulls I find most uneducated and biased are the ones trumpeting silver and XRP,” pointing to what he sees as a pattern of investors remaining bullish even as price action and broader conditions turn against them.
Brandt emphasizes decades of experience
Brandt’s tone was blunt and personal. He has a long track record of public commentary and his criticism of XRP is part of a pattern that goes back years. Earlier this month, he called XRP proponents “obsessed” and compared their beliefs to that of silver bulls.
For 50 years I have traded many thousands of contracts of all commodities, stock indices and as many cryptos as you can imagine
The perma bulls I find most uneducated and biased are the ones trumpeting Silver and XRP— Peter Brandt (@PeterLBrandt) December 12, 2025
At times he has made bearish predictions – including predictions that XRP would slide toward zero against Bitcoin – while at other times he identified bullish chart patterns and set higher targets that were later achieved before the market reversed.
Community pushback and surprises
The responses came quickly. Zach Rector, a well-known figure in the XRP space, pushed back on Brandt’s opinion. Reports indicated that Bitcoin maximalist YoungHoon Kim said on December 12 that he would start buying XRP – a notable shift for someone who had exclusively favored Bitcoin.
Kim has claimed an IQ of 276, a detail that was flagged as unverifiable by many readers, but it was repeated in social posts and sparked debate. X Finance Bull accepted Brandt’s trading record but suggested that charts could only be missing broader structural moves in the crypto markets. Dr. Don Woods, who called himself a “silver bull,” joked that triple-digit returns hadn’t bothered him with labels of bias or ignorance.
XRP: Price Context and Market Movements
According to market snapshots associated with the exchanges, XRP was trading above $3 at one point before sliding to the lower end of the $2 region. Volume and broader crypto swings played a role in that move.
Brandt’s critics point to that resilience as evidence that his calls are sometimes wrong. His supporters say his record still carries weight five decades from now. Both views are in circulation, and both are used to advocate different investment cases.
10,000 XRP and the Freedom Argument
Meanwhile, Edoardo Farina, founder of Alpha Lions Academy, has maintained a steady bullish stance. Based on his previous posts, he argued that owning 10,000 XRP could put an investor in a special position if prices rise enough.
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“It’s hard to understand how free you will be,” he wrote in a message that was later widely shared. That claim does not include a timeline or clear price targets. It is a game of belief, not a prediction built from publicly stated assumptions.
The differing views are part of a broader debate about prejudices, data and faith in crypto. Some traders view Brandt’s words as a warning against unchecked optimism. Others see the community pushback as evidence that XRP’s story is not yet set and that broader factors – legal, regulatory and adoption-related – could change the math.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView