Daniel Keller explains why he remains bullish on $XRP Ledger and $XRP despite a 26% drop this year, citing real-world use and ecosystem growth.
Keller, who is CTO at Eminence, recently explained why he still believes in the $XRP Ledger in an article on X. He shared his comments at a time when the crypto market remains under pressure, leading to sour investor sentiment, with $XRP down nearly 26% this year.
Key Points
- Keller became bullish in 2020 due to XRPL’s speed, low cost, and real-world utility.
- His view turned cautious during the 2022 bear market as he questioned whether strong technology alone guarantees real-world success.
- XRPL expanded between 2023 and 2024 with NFTs, Ripple’s SEC progress, AMMs, and $RLUSD stablecoin integration.
- Keller now bases his bullish outlook on proven product performance and XRPL’s growing ecosystem strength.
- His recent bullish stance comes despite $XRP dropping 26% this year amid a broader market downturn.
How Keller’s Perspective of XRPL Changed
Keller said his belief in the XRPL started back in 2020, when he saw it as a simple and effective blockchain. He mentioned its speed, low cost, and ability to handle real-world use without unnecessary complexity.
According to him, the network worked well for moving value, issuing assets, and settling transactions, which made it useful for developers building practical products.
Keller explained that his views changed over the years as he gained more experience. Notably, he moved from being strongly bullish to more cautious, and then back to being bullish again. This time, however, his confidence comes from real experience, not expectations.
He said the period between 2020 and 2021 was an “easy” time to be bullish, as market sentiment supported his views. However, he pointed out that the reality behind the scenes was different.
Much of the work involved fixing issues, handling unexpected problems, and keeping products running smoothly. As the market focused on price, he dealt with daily challenges and a lack of recognition for the XRPL outside its main community.
By 2022, the bear market changed the situation. Keller said he stopped assuming that good technology would automatically lead to success.
Notably, he became more critical of the ecosystem and questioned the idea that strong infrastructure alone could deliver results. While he continued to defend XRPL publicly, the market pundit began to see the limits of that belief as market conditions worsened.
$XRP Ecosystem Growth
Speaking further, Keller noted that from 2023 to 2024, the XRPL ecosystem saw observable growth. He mentioned the launch of native NFTs in late 2022, which expanded the network beyond payments into areas like collectibles and digital identity.
He also mentioned Ripple’s partial win against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in July 2023, which helped improve confidence around $XRP.
In 2024, XRPL introduced AMM features and later added the stablecoin $RLUSD. Keller said these changes made the ecosystem more useful and harder to ignore. At the same time, his own approach changed. Specifically, he began to focus less on ideas and more on results.
He stressed that the real opportunity now is in building systems that bring users back repeatedly. He called attention to areas like user retention, competition design, affiliate systems, and reward structures as important parts of successful products.
Why Keller Remains Bullish on XRPL
Keller clarified that his current bullish view is more focused than before. According to the Eminence CTO, he no longer believes every project will succeed, or that hype can lead to results. Instead, his confidence is now based on what he has seen work in practice.
The community pundit believes XRPL still boasts strong fundamentals, including fast and low-cost transactions, while also supporting a wider range of applications through NFTs, AMMs, stablecoins, and new developers entering the space.
In the end, Keller said his belief in XRPL and $XRP comes from experience. He now values systems that work, retain users, and grow over time. Considering these lessons, he sees XRPL as a platform that has improved over the years and is better prepared to support real, lasting products, which is why he remains bullish today.