XRP's 5-Step Boom Plan Has a Catch: It Ignores the Real Problem

Well, this new mysterious “Butterfly” character has come up with a five-step plan for XRP to moon. ETFs, futures, interest rate cuts… Hey, where have I heard that before? Like the same tired song and dance from Wall Street, only with a crypto flavor. As much as I would love to agree with this hopeful spirit, I believe that the optimism here misunderstands the forest for the trees. This whole plan feels like it's designed for institutional investors, the big boys who already have plenty of advantages, while completely overlooking the everyday users who should be driving XRP's success.

Whose Boom Are We Really Talking About?

Let's be real. An XRP ETF, if it ever does materialize, will be of direct benefit only to BlackRock and their ilk. Fine, that will help inflate the price a little, but who’s cashing in? Are you, the everyday working man or woman out there, experiencing those benefits in the same measure? Or, are you simply allowing the rich to get richer, as the cost of entry continues to soar? What happens when BlackRock, or anyone else for that matter, decides to rebalance their portfolio and dumps a ton of XRP on the market? Who's left holding the bag then?

These XRP futures Coinbase and CME Group are launching? Awesome, new ways for smart traders to play the market and create knock-on effects that move the market. How is that of benefit to someone in a developing country who’s looking to use XRP for cross-border payments? It doesn’t. This puts even more pressure to create volatility and uncertainty. Not only does it favor those with financial means to play, but it puts those that cannot afford participation further behind.

Financial Inclusion or Financial Exclusion?

This is where the real problem lies. We're so focused on getting XRP accepted by the traditional financial system that we're forgetting what made crypto so exciting in the first place: its potential to democratize finance and empower individuals.

Instead of chasing ETFs and futures, we should be focusing on making XRP accessible and useful for everyone, especially those who are underserved by the existing financial system. Think about it:

• Remittances: XRP could revolutionize remittances, allowing people to send money home to their families quickly and cheaply, without being gouged by Western Union or MoneyGram.
• Microfinance: XRP could enable microloans and other financial services for people in developing countries who don't have access to traditional banking.
• Decentralized Applications (dApps): We need to build dApps on XRP that solve real-world problems and provide tangible benefits to everyday users.

The current strategy is not just misdirected though, it’s actively dangerous if it focuses on institutional adoption at the expense of grassroots adoption. Great potential might make XRP just another tool of the elite. It would enshrine in law the very inequalities that cryptocurrency was designed to overcome.

Forgotten Voices Need To Be Heard

I’m speaking about the unbanked and the underbanked, the folks who live paycheck-to-paycheck. These are the people who would get the most benefits from XRP and they are the ones we should be targeting.

Let’s continue to raise the voices of all those who are using XRP to create a more prosperous and sustainable future. Most importantly, they are building out creative, new solutions and lifting their communities up! Let’s prove to the world XRP is more than a speculative play. It’s a force of nature for achieving racial, social, and economic justice!

This isn’t just about XRP. It's about the future of crypto and whether we're going to live up to our promise of creating a more equitable financial system. Or will we let Wall Street seize control of crypto and use it to enrich itself? Or are we willing to build a more decentralized and inclusive financial ecosystem?

The choice is ours. And quite frankly, I’m sick of watching us make the bad choice. Cut the habit of seeking the old guard’s stamp of approval. Together, let’s create a future that works for us all! Forget the ETF. Put utility, accessibility and empowering the hidden voices front and center. That's the real path to XRP's success.