Warren Buffett-inspired investment advisor Preston Pysh says that the XRP price cannot grow organically as the token remains down 95 percent from its ATH
Investment advisor Preston Pysh, the founder of the ‘Buffett’s Books’ podcast, believes that XRP, the third biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, lacks an incentive price structure that would drive its price growth organically.
He also pointed to the fact that the token is centralized, meaning that it is largely controlled by one party (i.e. Ripple).
Ripple’s centralization problem
Even though Ripple’s former chief market strategist Cory Johnson claimed that Ripple Labs ‘discovered’ XRP, not created it out of thin air, the token cannot escape centralization accusations.
As reported by U.Today, hedge fund manager Mark Yusko claimed that asset is excluded from Morgan Creek’s index fund because it is ‘too closely held.’
Whales control close to 85 percent of the total XRP supply. Former Ripple CEO Chris Larsen, the second richest person in crypto, boasts a 5.19 billion XRP fortune.
XRP remains a laggard
Ripple, which is responsible for holding 60 percent of the token’s total supply, has faced accusations of tanking the price of the token with its sales. The company’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse told The Financial Times that Ripple would not be profitable without XRP sales.
‘We would not be profitable or cash flow positive [without selling XRP], I think I’ve said that. We have now.’
However, Ripple’s executives vehemently deny that they can manipulate XRP price. During his CNN interview in September, Garlinghouse explained that it was in their best interests to support let the token succeed.
‘Yes, Ripple owns a lot of XRP, we’re very interested in the success of XRP, but the accusations of us dumping, that’s not in our best interests to do that.’
Despite dramatically easing XRP sales in Q4, the token’s price action is still lethargic.