Key Takeaways
- An XRP commentator has outlined a wild $3,000-plus scenario.
- Cyber Capital founder Justin Bons accuses Ripple and XRP’s promoters of misleading investors over decentralization.
- XRPL developers say the unpublished source code addresses security-sensitive issues, with an amendment expected to activate Oct. 9.
An XRP bull has outlined a path toward $3,000 as Cyber Capital founder Justin Bons accuses Ripple of misleading retail investors about the network’s decentralization.
Bons calls the marketing “straight-up fraud,” arguing that an emergency XRP Ledger upgrade distributed without publicly available source code exposes an excessive reliance on Ripple and the XRP Ledger Foundation.
Bons Attacks XRP’s Closed-Source Upgrade
In an Oct. 8 post on X, Bons challenged the way XRP is presented to retail investors by Ripple.
“Selling XRP to retail as ‘decentralized’ is straight-up fraud!”
His criticism centers on version 3.4.1 of the XRP Ledger’s server software, released Sept. 25.
The official release announcement confirms that developers distributed the update while withholding its source code.
They attributed that decision to the sensitivity of the security fixes and said the code would be published later alongside a retrospective.
Bons argues that operators should be able to inspect the software they are being asked to run, even when developers temporarily withhold an explanation of the vulnerability.
“That is why open-source is so incredibly important!”
What Happens to Servers That Do Not Upgrade?
The release introduces fixBatchV1_2, an amendment addressing security-sensitive protocol issues.
Developers said it was expected to activate Oct. 9 if validator support continued.
Servers that had not upgraded would then become amendment-blocked, preventing them from keeping pace with the network. The release was developed jointly by RippleX Engineering and the XRP Ledger Foundation.
Under XRPL’s amendment rules, operators can change their votes.
An amendment must sustain support from more than 80% of trusted validators for two weeks before activation.
Amendment blocking occurs when a server cannot apply the network’s updated rules.
Validator Lists Remain the Central Dispute
Bons also targets the Unique Node Lists, or UNLs, that identify the validators a server trusts during consensus.
He characterizes the publishers of the recommended lists as “kingmakers” and argues that this arrangement amounts to Proof of Authority.
XRPL’s documentation describes a different model, however.
Anyone can run a validator, and operators can choose their own trusted validators rather than follow the lists published by Ripple or the XRP Ledger Foundation.
But that freedom has practical constraints.
The network’s consensus guidance warns that insufficient overlap between trusted-validator lists can cause servers to diverge and therefore recommends using coordinated lists.
XRP Bull Outlines a $3,000 Scenario
As criticism ramps up, XRP commentator @unknowDLT has outlined adoption scenarios ranging from $10 to more than $3,000.
An Oct. 7 post on X from @unkowDLT links progressively higher prices to greater institutional participation and fewer tokens available to trade.
For the $1,500–$3,000-plus range, the commentator envisages XRP becoming a:
“systemic component of liquidity/collateral, with trillions in financial capacity and a reduced functional float.”
Using the post’s $1.42 reference price, reaching $3,000 would require a gain of approximately 211,168%, multiplying XRP’s price by roughly 2,113 times.
That implied valuation would be equally extraordinary.
Using an illustrative circulating supply of 60 billion XRP, a $3,000 price would produce a $180 trillion market capitalization.
That would exceed the $157.8 trillion value of global equity markets at the end of 2025, according to SIFMA’s 2026 Capital Markets Fact Book.
XRP’s hypothetical valuation would be approximately 14% larger than that of the worldwide stock market total.
Applied to XRP’s maximum supply of 100 billion tokens, the target would produce a $300 trillion fully diluted valuation.
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Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
