XRP optimism is rebounding as long-term builders argue the XRP Ledger’s unrealized utility, DeFi potential, and infrastructure upgrades could finally activate dormant liquidity and restore relevance beyond speculation.
XRP May Be Entering Most Important Cycle Yet as Veteran Builders Turn Aggressively Bullish
Long-term conviction in digital asset infrastructure is driving renewed optimism around XRP and the XRP Ledger. Anodos co-founder and CEO Panos Mekras shared on social media platform X why he remains strongly bullish, pointing to years of firsthand experience and the ecosystem’s unrealized potential.
Addressing XRP directly, the executive on Jan. 14:
“For anyone who is doubting, I have never been more bullish on XRP and especially the XRP Ledger.”
He grounded that conviction in more than a decade of continuous involvement in the XRPL ecosystem, spanning multiple market cycles as an investor, XRP holder, active user, advisor, and builder. Mekras emphasized that having lived through both hype-driven peaks and prolonged downturns shaped his view that XRP’s long-term relevance depends on real usage rather than speculation. He argued that extended periods of passive holding have left large amounts of XRP liquidity idle, limiting its economic impact and slowing broader adoption.
Turning to the XRP Ledger, Mekras outlined structural and strategic weaknesses that have constrained growth. He pointed to low decentralized exchange volumes, limited automated market maker liquidity, fragmented developer tooling, and weak incentives as signs that XRPL has failed to capitalize on its early technical lead. He criticized years of messaging centered almost entirely on Ripple’s institutional payments strategy, asserting that this narrowed perception overshadowed the ledger’s native decentralized exchange, tokenization capabilities, and protocol-level DeFi design. Mekras described XRPL’s competitive advantage as its architectural integrity, aggregated liquidity, and safety at the protocol layer, while stressing that future progress depends on consumer-grade applications where blockchain complexity remains invisible to users.
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In a longer post shared on Jan. 6, Mekras detailed what must change for XRPL to compete with larger networks by 2026, calling for sponsored fees, batch transactions, aggressive liquidity incentives, and faster deployment of ecosystem funding. He argued that seamless onboarding, stronger onramps, and decisive support for builders are prerequisites for unlocking both ledger activity and XRP utility.
Returning to XRP in a separate post shared on X on Jan. 13, Mekras rejected the idea that the asset was designed only for institutions, writing:
“It’s 2026 and some people still believe that ‘ XRP is not meant for retail’ or that it was built for banks. If you still believe that, you have some real research to do instead of believing the influencers that sell you snake oil.”
FAQ 🧭
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- Why is Anodos CEO Panos Mekras strongly bullish on XRP and the XRP Ledger? Mekras cites over a decade of firsthand experience across multiple market cycles, concluding that XRP’s long-term investment value is driven by real-world utility and underexploited ecosystem potential rather than speculation.
- What key weaknesses does Mekras believe have limited XRPL’s growth so far? He highlights low DEX volumes, weak AMM liquidity, fragmented developer tools, and poor incentives as structural issues that have constrained network adoption and capital efficiency.
- How could changes to the XRP Ledger unlock greater XRP utility for investors? Mekras argues that sponsored fees, batch transactions, stronger incentives, and faster ecosystem funding could materially increase on-ledger activity and demand for .
- Is XRP primarily designed for institutions or retail users? Mekras rejects the institutional-only narrative, stating that and XRPL were built as open infrastructure where broader consumer-grade applications can ultimately drive sustainable investor value.
Author: Kevin Helms
Source: Bitcoin
Reviewed By: Editorial Team
