Ex Ripple Director Questions New Model for Determining XRP Fair Market Value

Drawing parallels with previous models, the former Ripple Director questions the veracity of a new approach aiming to determine the fair market value of XRP.

A novel model for assessing the fair market value of XRP has emerged within the XRP community, but Matt Hamilton, former Director of Developer Relations at Ripple, is questioning its authenticity. Hamilton’s doubts were triggered by previous models that dominated the scene in the past.

Digital Asset Investor, a crypto YouTuber and XRP community member, first shared what appears to be the cover of a Whitepaper on the new model, titled: “A Comprehensive Approach to Determine the Fair Market Value of XRP.”

“A little birdie told me the Hinman Emails weren’t the only thing coming,” the YouTuber revealed, but has since failed to provide valuable information on the document’s origin.

A little birdie told me the Hinman Emails weren’t the only thing coming ??? pic.twitter.com/sgjAQnrGN5

— Digital Asset Investor (@digitalassetbuy) May 23, 2023

Given its cryptic nature, Matt Hamilton expressed skepticism regarding the legitimacy of the document, highlighting similarities between it and previously released models. Hamilton remarked that these prior approaches ultimately proved to be “speculative nonsense.”

‘Is this actually going to be looking at “fair market value”, or is it going to be like the stuff produced by the Valhil gang that was just speculative nonsense and assumed such absurdities as “If the US military replaced all their planes and bombs with XRP”?’ he questioned.

Is this *actually* going to be looking at "fair market value", or is it going to be like the stuff produced by the Valhil gang that was just speculative nonsense and assumed such absurdities as "If the US military replaced all their planes and bombs with XRP"?

— Matt Hamilton (@HammerToe) May 25, 2023

What is the Fair Market Value of XRP?

The fair market value of an asset is the price agreed upon by willing buyers and sellers in an open market, free from compulsion and with adequate information. It is an estimated worth based on market conditions and is distinct from the asset’s actual price on the market.

The asset’s price on the market is often influenced by external factors, which include circulating reports and developments related to that asset. With XRP, the community believes that the ongoing SEC lawsuit has negatively affected its market value. Consequently, several individuals have devised methods to determine the asset’s fair market value.

One such individual is Jimmy Vallee, managing director at Valhil Capital, who introduced the XRP buyback proposal in 2021. Vallee’s theory speculated that XRP would be adopted as the global reserve currency if fiat continues to fail, putting the asset’s fair market value between $37,500 and $50,000.

David Schwartz, the CTO of Ripple, mentioned earlier this year that the buyback proposal looks like a scam, as disclosed by The Crypto Basic in February. Moreover, attorney John Deaton distanced himself from the proposal amid the speculations of a planned compensation for him stipulated in the buyback proposal.

Notably, Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock’s Head of Digital Assets, released a paper in 2018 in collaboration with Susan Athey, who is now a Board Member for Ripple. The paper sought to determine the fair valuation of BTC and XRP, and a web calculator was made by someone on the model used. The model put XRP’s fair market value between $6.37 and $32.91. Hamilton noted that this method is the “most sensible analysis” he’s ever seen.