If You Invested $1,000 In XRP Token When Bill Clinton Spoke At Ripple Conference, Here's How Much You'd Have Today

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 investors could have made buying the token at the time.

What Happened: Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently posted a photo of himself and Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty with Trump on social media platform X.

"Great dinner last night with Donald Trump & Stuart Alderoty. Strong start to 2025!" Garlinghouse tweeted with the photo.

XRP, like many cryptocurrencies, has soared since Trump's win. While XRP has not returned to all-time highs set back in early 2018, the cryptocurrency is up over 300% in the last year.

Garlinghouse also recently disclosed 75% of Ripple's job openings are based in the U.S., a strong contrast to where the company's hiring practices were over the past four years. The CEO also said that more U.S. deals had been signed in the last six weeks of 2024 than in the previous six months of the year.

Ripple executives sound optimistic about the new White House administration and are letting investors and holders know that Trump could be good for the company and its token, with Garlinghouse labeling the "Trump bull market" as helping turn the cryptocurrency market around.

"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."

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. Ripple announced the speaker booking in July 2018 and Clinton's speech was given on Oct. 1, 2018.

Clinton talked about numerous topics during his keynote interview with a former advisor, while also highlighting the potential of blockchain, saying there were "staggering" possibilities for the technology, as reported by TechCrunch.

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

Clinton 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."

Read Also: If You Invested $1,000 In XRP Token When Ashton Kutcher Surprised Ellen DeGeneres With $4 Million Charity Donation, Here’s How Much You’d Have Today

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 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.

Read Next:

• If You Invested $1,000 In XRP Token When Snoop Dogg Performed At Ripple Community Event At Consensus 2018, Here’s How Much You’d Have Today

Photo: Clinton: photo by Peter Serocki; both photos via Shutterstock