Jake Claver has laid out his macro thesis on why XRP could eventually reach $1,000, arguing in a May 31 interview with MissCrypto that the asset could benefit from a rare convergence of global liquidity stress, stablecoin regulation, tokenization and real-time settlement demand.
Clover recognized that the target seems extreme when viewed from the usual market capitalization framework. But he argued that crypto investors are applying the wrong lens to assets designed to support global settlement networks.”
I know that seems like a high price to a lot of people,” Claver said. “They look at the total market cap and they look at the total supply and the tokenomics around it, and in most circumstances that wouldn’t just be feasible. That situation is a perfect storm that I think will play out. I think at this point it’s very likely that it will actually happen.
The Macro Domino Theory Behind XRP
Central to Claver’s argument is the possible unwinding of the carry trade in the yen, which he said began showing signs of stress in August 2024. For decades, investors have borrowed cheaply in Japan and deployed that capital in U.S. government bonds, stocks, real estate, gold, silver and other global assets. If Japanese yields rise while U.S. yields fall, he argued, capital could rotate back into Japanese bonds, forcing large-scale sales of U.S. Treasuries and other assets.
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“So what does that look like? Well, I kind of have to bring it back to macroeconomics,” Claver said. “A lot of people focus solely on the crypto space and think it’s retail-driven. I would challenge that and say that a lot of the volume we’ve seen moving into crypto over the last two years has been institutionally driven.”
According to Claver, that is where the crypto infrastructure becomes relevant. He said the back end of the stock market and foreign exchange market will need faster liquidity and settlement rails if disorderly repricing hits traditional markets.
“Crypto plays a big role here and it’s the liquidity and the move towards real-time settlement for the back end of the stock market and the FX market,” he said. “Because both of those things are going to be affected as all of this plays out. If there isn’t enough liquidity or credit that can be provided to these parties, we literally have an ICE 9 scenario.”
Claver said such a scenario would not just be about crypto prices, but a broader repricing in global markets. “You can imagine tens of trillions of dollars being sucked out of markets worldwide,” he said. “And it doesn’t really matter where you have your money. It could be bonds. It could be in the stock market. It could be in gold and silver.”
Claver also linked the thesis to stablecoin legislation and the demand for government bonds. He said the US did not have a stablecoin law in 2024, but regulated stablecoins could create domestic demand for government bonds coming back into the market after their passage in 2025. He also pointed to expected OCC guidance for banks issuing stablecoins, saying the regulator’s comment period ended on May 1 and guidance could come on July 18.
XRP ETFs, Tether Risk and Settlement Demand
An important part of the thesis is Claver’s expectation that Tether could come under pressure, whether from geopolitical developments, sanctions risks or questions surrounding its reserves. He noted that Tether has a large position in the treasury, but argued that the lack of a full audit and the presence of Bitcoin and other assets on the balance sheet leave open questions.
“They have a significant position, but a large part of their balance sheet is made up of Bitcoin and other assets,” Claver said. “They’ve never had a full audit. And why would you launch a US-compliant stablecoin if you were planning on making the other stablecoin you have compliant during the three-year period that you have to do that?”
He said any liquidity disruption at the stablecoin level could impact exchanges and Bitcoin, especially if ETF-related settlement mismatches become more visible. Bitcoin settles on-chain in about 30 to 45 minutes, he said, while the stock market remains at T+1. If traditional markets fail to move toward T+0 settlement, he argued, institutions could come under pressure to adopt assets and networks better suited to real-time value transfer.
“I think you’re going to see an onslaught of XRP ETFs and a huge rotation of liquidity into that asset,” Claver said. “There’s not much left on the exchanges right now. The liquidity for XRP on exchanges is very low. And that would drive the price significantly higher where they could then start using it to settle the back end of the stock market.”
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Claver said dynamism could also help “mitigate the risks of the foreign exchange market,” adding that XRP “solves many of the problems that will arise as this disruption occurs.”
Clarity law and the limits of the thesis
Claver called the Clarity Act important, but not the only trigger. He said the legislation could protect court-established clarity on digital assets and help address DeFi regulations, taxes, liquidity pools, KYC and AML requirements. Still, he suggested regulators could act faster than Congress if the OCC guidelines give banks a clear path to issuing stablecoins.
“The Clarity Act is really more focused on clarity about what these digital assets are,” Claver said. “The other piece that I think we need is the regulations around DeFi here domestically in the US.”
He also acknowledged that XRP is not the only network positioned for value transfer. Solana, Hedera, Stellar and XRPL-based tokenization tools were all mentioned as potential parts of the broader market structure shift.
However, he argued that XRPL’s native features, including digital identity credentials, authorized domains, an authorized DEX, oracles, AMM functionality and multi-purpose tokens, give it a strategic advantage.
“There’s just a lot of things built into the XRPL over time that I think give it a strategic advantage beyond the litigation and the clarity that they have from that litigation with the SEC here domestically in the US,” Claver said.
Claver repeatedly described the $1,000 XRP scenario as a theory, not a certainty. But his broader vision is clear: If macro stresses force traditional markets to settle more quickly, and if regulated stablecoins and tokenized assets accelerate institutional adoption, XRP could become one of the assets most directly exposed to that transition.
At the time of writing, XRP was trading at $1.30.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com