XRP (XRPUSD), one of the leading cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, has been on a wild tear in recent months. This is mostly due to Ripple’s (the company behind XRP) legal headwinds turning into tailwinds. The Securities and Exchange Commission is now much more lax when it comes to cryptocurrencies. Plus, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump both have their own crypto tokens. Before the election, Trump vowed to promote cryptos.

Ripple’s legal wins and Trump’s reelection caused XRP to surge, and it is now up 508.8% from its 52-week low. The rally is warranted, since the administration’s attitude toward crypto gives it a window of a few years where it can aggressively expand and become an established part of the global banking system.

XRP was originally built to streamline cross-border remittances as a bridge currency for financial institutions and to reduce the friction of traditional systems like SWIFT. Over the years, its use cases have expanded beyond payments to include smart contracts, decentralized identity protocols, tokenized assets, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

And these are mainly the reasons why investors are so bullish on XRP going forward. But theres another reason worth factoring in, which could supercharge its performance.

XRP Could Become One of the Highest-Yielding Cryptos

XRP has underperformed its similarly sized peers until recently, and the gains have also plateaued in recent months. Unlike many other altcoins that allow staking, XRP has lacked any yields that give holders an incentive to buy and hold long term.

This is changing with the introduction of DeFi protocols like MoreMarkets, which enable XRP holders to earn substantial yields on their tokens without relinquishing control. By depositing XRP into specialized smart contract vaults, users can access automated DeFi strategies that were previously reserved for institutions. In turn, this could make XRP into one of the highest-yielding cryptocurrencies available.

Retail investors would be able to get yields through the XRP Earn Account through self-custodial smart contract vaults that automatically allocate funds to vetted third-party DeFi strategies. The yields could be as high as 20%, although 5% is what you get during the initial testing phase. Investors have already deposited $2.5 million into the platform as of July 24.

Does This Change the Paradigm for XRP?

This isn’t true “staking” like you see on other chains, where you lock up tokens to help secure the network and earn rewards. XRP’s blockchain doesn’t support that natively, so MoreMarkets is more like yield farming, the practice of moving crypto assets through different protocols to earn the highest yields.

If MoreMarkets gains more popularity, it could give investors more incentive to hold XRP for longer. However, this is unlikely to be something that completely changes the paradigm for XRP. A consistent and stable 20% yield is highly unlikely, and a 5% to 10% yield is more in line with other chains.

Should You Buy XRP Now?

XRP has strong support at $3, but it has very strong resistance levels in the $3-$3.30 range. It has failed to make a move above its 7-day moving average and hold, so I’d wait for a break above $3.30 to gain near-term confidence about a bona-fide rally.

In the long run, XRP is a great bet due to the opportunity it has to expand its partnerships. Spot ETFs could be approved soon, and JPMorgan believes it could trigger $8 billion in inflows in the first year of trading. On top of that, the market has been eagerly waiting for altseason to kick in. This means billions could flow down from Bitcoin to altcoins like XRP.