thecryptobasic.com
Dr. Jim Willie, a financial analyst with a PhD in statistics, said that big banks and private equity firms are deliberately keeping $XRP price low.
He shared this view in a podcast with Black Swan Capitalist founder Versan Aljarrah. Willie suggested that $XRP’s price action is not due to regular market forces, but rather a strategy by institutions to quietly buy $XRP before its price rises significantly.
“Help Us Keep It Under $3”
Specifically, Willie says major banks, including Bank of America and Bank of New York Mellon, are trying to keep $XRP under $3 so they can purchase large amounts before its price increases.
According to Willie, these institutions are deliberately holding the price down to stockpile $XRP before the market catches up to its true value.
Willie went further, claiming these banks could be coordinating directly with Ripple. He believes they want to accumulate $XRP below $3 instead of paying $7–$8, which he considers closer to its true value.
NDAs and Shrinking Exchange Wallets
Willie also pointed to shrinking exchange wallets holding millions of $XRP as a sign of hidden accumulation. For example, Coinbase’s $XRP holdings dropped from nearly 1 billion tokens to just around 32 million $XRP in September.
He argued that the absence of explanations from exchanges suggests many may be under non-disclosure agreements. NDAs, he said, could be masking the real flow of $XRP into private custody or institutional pipelines.
Interestingly, Willie connected this with comments made during a panel discussion involving BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. When asked directly about BlackRock’s plans for an $XRP-based ETF, Fink responded, “I can’t say”. Willie interpreted it as a subtle confirmation of restricted information.
Hydraulics, ETFs, and the Coming Squeeze
Furthermore, Willie compared future $XRP price movement to a hydraulic pressure system, where money flowing out of Bitcoin and Ethereum would amplify $XRP’s price.
In his analogy, shifting liquidity from a wide “tube” like Bitcoin into a narrower “tube” like $XRP creates an exponential pressure effect. He believes $XRP ETFs will accelerate this dynamic, especially as OTC supply dries up.
Willie: $XRP Can Reach Trillions, Will Rival the Dollar
Meanwhile, Willie dismissed concerns about $XRP’s market cap limitations, calling the idea “fallacious”. Instead, he believes $XRP’s long-term role goes beyond payments, potentially replacing major functions of the U.S. dollar.
“I believe $XRP will replace the dollar as the global reserve currency in its function regarding trade payments, as in treasury bills at the port, and as a stablecoin like RLUSD to replace treasury bonds,” Willie stated.
He also noted that $XRP’s market cap could reach $100 trillion without much difficulty as its role in global trade becomes more established.
Willie described the current situation as a quiet shift in global finance: banks that once opposed Ripple are now positioning themselves as partners. He speculates about a future in which firms like JPMorgan potentially use Ripple’s technology to save billions in settlement costs.
While Willie has made bold statements about banks suppressing $XRP, such views are popular within the $XRP community and have no foundation beyond the belief that $XRP should be worth more than its current price of $2. Critics insist that there is no concrete evidence of price suppression.