XRP That Plummeted by 96%, Is It Okay to Include It in My Precious Retirement Funds?

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Is investing in XRP (Ripple), which has a history of plummeting by over 90% in the past, a wise choice for long-term retirement funds? While it could be a fatal poison for investors nearing retirement, it can be an excellent supplementary tool to drive explosive growth in a portfolio with sufficient investment time and a willingness to take risks.

According to the investment media outlet The Motley Fool on May 2 (local time), stable asset growth through the power of compounding is essential when nearing retirement, making highly volatile virtual assets unsuitable. The value of XRP heavily depends on the business capabilities of Ripple, its issuer and the company building the infrastructure for the XRP Ledger (XRPL). Indeed, XRP plummeted by a staggering 96% from $3.84 to $0.14 between January 2018 and March 2020.

Investors in their 30s or 40s might have enough time to recover from such massive losses. However, for investors with less than 10 years until retirement, such a bear market could permanently destroy their portfolio. Therefore, allocating an excessive proportion of XRP in core retirement funds intended for old age is practically a disqualifying factor.

That said, XRP should not be completely excluded as a long-term investment asset. If a portfolio is sufficiently diversified with traditional assets like stocks and bonds, and core virtual assets like Bitcoin (BTC), XRP can serve as an excellent supplementary tool for returns. The media recommended a strategy of maintaining a much smaller proportion for XRP than Bitcoin, at around 10% of the virtual asset investment allocation. This proportion allows investors to benefit from potential explosive growth in the future without significantly impacting their overall retirement plan, even if the asset's value drops considerably.

Indeed, XRP possesses clear upside potential that makes it worth including for the long term. The XRP spot ETF, launched in late 2025, recorded approximately $1.3 billion in net inflows, demonstrating real market demand. Furthermore, an increasing number of institutional investors are utilizing the XRP Ledger to manage Real World Asset (RWA) tokenized assets, which is expected to act as a significant growth driver in the future.

While XRP carries some risk in a retirement portfolio, it can effectively serve as a growth catalyst, offering the potential for high returns. However, the most realistic and wise investment approach is to entrust the role of primary assets responsible for stable returns to safe assets like Index Funds, and to strategically approach XRP purely in a supplementary position.

*Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only, and we are not responsible for any investment losses based on it. The content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.*