XRP Token (XRP/USD) from Ripple Has Been One of the Top Gainers in the Cryptocurrency Sector and Could Be Benefiting from the 2024 Election Won by Donald Trump

Ripple Labs executives have also met with Trump, prompting optimism for its future. Here's a look back at another president connected to Ripple and how much

Donald Trump met with Ripple Labs executives at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday evening, according to a post by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse on social media platform X.

"Great dinner last night with Donald Trump & Stuart Alderoty," wrote Garlinghouse in a post on the platform, which also included a photo of himself, Trump and Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty.

"Strong start to 2025!" the CEO added in the post.

The meeting comes as XRP, the native token of Ripple's XRP Ledger, has soared following Trump's win in the 2024 election. While XRP has not yet returned to all-time highs set back in early 2018, the cryptocurrency is up over 300% in the last year.

"We're also seeing 75% of Ripple's job openings based in the U.S. now, which is a stark contrast to where our hiring was over the past four years," Garlinghouse said in a recent interview with Fox Business.

"And we signed more U.S. deals in the last six weeks of 2024 than we did in the previous six months of the year. So, things are opening up here."

Ripple executives have been sounding optimistic about the new White House administration and are letting investors and XRP holders know that Trump could be good for the company and its token.

"Say what you want, but the ‘Trump effect' is already making crypto great again — through his campaign, and in the administration's day 1 priorities," Garlinghouse said in a recent tweet.

"And we're just getting started. Pay attention."

While Trump becoming president could be good for cryptocurrencies and also help end Ripple's legal battles with the SEC, he's not the first former president to show support for Ripple.

It may be hard to imagine given the climate for cryptocurrency at the time, but in 2018, Ripple was able to book former President Bill Clinton as a keynote at its Swell Conference.

"We are thrilled to announce President Bill Clinton will be joining us at Swell to discuss the staggering possibilities of blockchain technology," Ripple announced in a press release in July 2018.

Clinton's speech was given on Oct. 1, 2018, where he talked about numerous topics during his keynote interview with a former advisor, while also highlighting the potential of blockchain.

"This whole blockchain deal has the potential it does only because it is applicable across national borders (and) income groups," Clinton said, according to TechCrunch.

Clinton also warned that the cryptocurrency industry should not get ahead of itself or financial and social inequalities could be magnified.

"The more the benefits materialize, the more you have to be careful about it," Clinton said.

"If you don't pay attention to that, you will magnify the financial inequalities and the social inequalities that already exist in our country and around the world."

Investing $1,000 in XRP: Clinton's speech may have served as more of a validation for XRP and Ripple than anything, as the former president devoted a minimal amount of his keynote to talking about blockchain.

Still, getting a former president to come to a cryptocurrency conference in 2018 was a big deal and could have been a time for investors to recognize how early things were in terms of validation and public adoption.

XRP traded at a high of $0.6023 on Oct. 1, 2018, when Clinton gave his speech. A $1,000 investment at the time could have purchased 1,660.30 XRP.

Today, the $1,000 investment would be worth $3,785.48, based on a price of $2.28 at the time of writing. This represents a return of 278.5% since Clinton's speech.

For comparison, the same $1,000 invested in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 stock index, would have returned less over the same time period.

The $1,000 investment in the SPY could have purchased 3.79 shares at the time, which would be worth $2,234.17 at the time of writing, up 123.7%.

While there is no guarantee that XRP will continue going up in 2025, a new White House administration considered to be pro-crypto could continue the momentum and build upon what one former president once said about the "staggering" possibilities of the blockchain.