The crypto market has been red hot lately. Every major crypto name that isn’t a stablecoin posted significant gains last month. At the time of writing it is Bitcoin (BTC -2.26%) has risen 43% in 30 days Cronos (KRO -9.34%) more than doubled and Dogecoin (DOGE -4.30%) more than tripled.

But XRP (XRP 13.67%) didn’t get the memo about this exciting sprint in the crypto market. The digital coin, also known as Ripple, gained just 30% over the same period and is trading just below $0.70.

Is this a good time to invest in XRP and its associated payment service RippleNet, or will the coin continue to play second fiddle to the faster-growing cryptocurrencies?

Why XRP’s market performance stands out

There is a clear divide between XRP and the crypto market as a whole. Most of the leading cryptocurrencies tend to rise and fall in harmony, led by Bitcoin’s dominant market cap. Even meme coins like Dogecoin belong in this bundle of linked crypto names, except when they rise or fall for stupid reasons.

But XRP travels on a different plane. Bitcoin has doubled in 2024, but XRP is right back where it started this year. The cryptocurrency’s chart can take sharp turns that have nothing to do with any other digital coin or token, usually inspired by the events in a New York courtroom.

Legal challenges are shaping XRP’s investment path

You know what I’m talking about. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against the Ripple Labs organization and its leaders four years ago, accusing them of selling unregistered securities in the early days of XRP. This legal action made XRP unavailable to US investors for two and a half years and damaged the investment market’s confidence in XRP. So the Ripple-backed cryptocurrency continues to jump on good legal news and fall when things don’t go so well.

The funny thing is that XRP ultimately fell behind the broader crypto market, even though most of the rulings went in the organization’s favor. Furthermore, the RippleNet international payments platform is a proven tool with substantial real-world value, and investors are not giving the underlying cryptocurrency the respect it deserves.

RippleNet’s role in building the value of XRP

The XRP ledger processes more than 20 transactions per second and manages more than 500,000 payments and money transfers every day. The recent addition of automated market makers (AMM) has increased the amount of liquidity available to the system. In other words, RippleNet is a fully functional and very active money transfer system today.

And I’m not surprised that the Ripple service is gaining popularity. In addition to fast payment processing, it also manages cross-border money transfers at low costs and with minimum hassle. As a Swedish-American immigrant with occasional gigs in places like Britain and Lithuania, I have some experience with slow and costly foreign payments. Ripple solves most of these problems, making the functional XRP token valuable in a very practical way.

The digital road ahead

Lawsuits are always unpredictable, although the Ripple side has had more victories than defeats in this legal duel with the SEC.

Whether the ultimate outcome is positive or downright brutal for XRP and its investors, putting that battle in the rearview mirror should be a big step forward. Investors hate uncertainty, especially in volatile and unknown markets like cryptocurrencies. Driving away that gloomy legal albatross can only be good for XRP’s long-term value.

I’m not sure if that release will come soon enough for XRP to ride the next Bitcoin peak, but it doesn’t really matter. Buying XRP tokens for around $0.70 each in 2024 could result in market gains over the next decade and beyond. I own more XRP than Bitcoin because the token looks deeply undervalued in light of that booming and growing payment service.