XRP at a Crossroads: $22 Is a Must, or the Cycle Top Is Already In

Crypto rivalries often get noisy, and in the past few weeks, XRP has again become the target of sharp criticisms. Particularly, Chainlink and Litecoin proponents have renewed attacks on XRP, questioning whether XRP still has a place in the future of digital assets. However, despite the chatter, XRP continues to show strength through its performance with rebuttals from within its community. Chainlink's Growing Institutional Appeal Leads to XRP CriticismsNotably, Chainlink's growing institutional presence has been a major ￰1￱ secured partnerships with SWIFT, Mastercard , and others, Chainlink has built a reputation as the go-to provider of oracle services for decentralized finance and tokenized ￰2￱ a result, Chainlink community figures have recently claimed that these moves put LINK ahead of XRP as the "banking coin" for major institutions.

Interestingly, Chainlink's new deal with the ￰3￱ of Commerce provided another reason for these commentaries. Notably, the partnership will bring major economic data to different blockchains, but the XRP Ledger was not ￰4￱ led to some critics suggesting the government snubbed XRPL due to a lack of trust. However, XRP proponents have pushed ￰5￱ Proponents Push BackFor instance, dUNL validator Vet explained that the issue surrounding XRPL's snob was due to ￰6￱ to Vet, the government leveraged Chainlink and Pyth, and since neither of them has yet to support XRPL, the network wasn't part of the ￰7￱ argued that the decision had nothing to do with bias.

Meanwhile, in another commentary, some Chainlink advocates claimed these recent developments had enlightened investors, leading to a rotation of capital from XRP to LINK. Nonetheless, attorney Bill Morgan dismissed these claims with chart ￰8￱ pointed to trading data that shows XRP holding its ground against LINK and reminded critics that XRP has delivered stronger gains this year. Also, former Ripple developer Matt Hamilton stressed that both communities should recognize that XRP and LINK serve very different purposes. Specifically, XRP drives payments and settlement, while LINK primarily powers ￰9￱ are two roles that don't cancel each other out.￰0￱ Fuels the XRP AttacksMeanwhile, Litecoin also joined the campaign when its official account mocked XRP's adoption story, comparing it to the foul smell of a ￰10￱ post led to backlash from XRP's ￰11￱ his response, attorney Morgan compared XRP's current market ranking and rising market cap with Litecoin's steady ￰12￱ also noted that XRP plays a role in major policy conversations, including at a White House crypto roundtable, while Litecoin has largely faded from ￰13￱ community voices also stepped ￰14￱ one, Digital Asset Investor brushed off claims that XRP holders were leaving for ￰15￱ called the idea nothing more than a fear campaign designed to create ￰16￱ XRP community figures share this view, arguing that the project continues to attract unfair criticism that doesn't match its actual track ￰17￱ Jab from SWIFT CIOEven outside these community skirmishes, XRP faced shots from industry leaders.

Notably, SWIFT's Chief Innovation Officer, Tom Zschach, recently took a subtle jab at Ripple and XRP, arguing that surviving lawsuits does not prove ￰18￱ said real adoption depends on trust and shared governance, not legal ￰19￱ response, Osama E., Agile Lead at Sharkforce Consulting, argued that XRP's years of legal scrutiny have actually strengthened its ￰20￱ said the network has proven itself more than most other blockchains and now stands out as one of the most battle-tested systems in the ￰21￱ all the drama, XRP has kept its momentum. Notably, it stands out as one of the biggest gainers in the past year, up 403% within this period despite the recent drop to $2.82.

This outpaces the growth from LINK (+111%) and LTC (+71%) in the same timeframe.