Legendary analyst Peter Brandt has criticized XRP investors, describing them as uneducated. His criticism comes amid the drop below the psychological $2 level, despite recent fundamentals that paint a bullish picture for the altcoin. 

Peter Brandt Describes XRP Investors As “Uneducated”

In an X post, Brandt stated that XRP investors, who are permabulls, are the most uneducated and biased set of people he has seen over his 50 years of trading. The veteran trader classified this set of investors alongside those who trumpet Silver. He also highlighted how this was a big deal considering that he has traded thousands of contracts of every commodity, stock indexes, and many cryptos. 

XRP has, over the years, been known to have one of the strongest crypto communities, which commonly refer to themselves as the ‘XRP Army.’ Brandt has, on several occasions, been criticized by some investors over some of his bearish predictions for the altcoin. This has led to him calling them out in the past whenever he makes such predictions. 

It is worth mentioning that Brandt had also earlier in the month asserted that the “most madly obsessed perma-bulls” on earth are bulls. Although the veteran trader didn’t state an exact reason for making these statements, some pundits have developed a knack for making outlandish price predictions. 

An example of such a pundit is Barry C, who recently stated that the price will skyrocket from $2 to $1,000 a lot sooner than people anticipate. The pundit has in the past alluded to banks’ potential adoption of the token as a factor that could spark the rally to $1,000. He recently highlighted the OCC’s grant of a conditional approval to Ripple to operate as a bank, which provides a boost for the altcoin. 

Largest IQ Holder Is Now A Bull

XRP pundit Zach Rector clapped back against Brandt’s statement, noting that the largest IQ holder is now an XRP bull. The largest IQ holder, Young Hoon Kim, recently revealed that he had started buying the token, having become bullish on the altcoin. He also predicted that the altcoin could reach a new all-time high (ATH) before the year ends. 

Meanwhile, in his latest X post, Kim opined that the price could potentially reach $100 over the next five years. However, he didn’t mention what could spark such a parabolic price surge for the altcoin. It is worth mentioning that such predictions have raised eyebrows because of what the altcoin’s market cap will be if it reaches such price targets. A $100 price target would give XRP a market cap of almost $10 trillion. 

At the time of writing, the token’s price is trading at around $1.98, down over 2% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Young Hoon Kim — a social-media personality who describes himself on X as the “IQ 276” holder — said XRP could rise to $100 over the next five years, offering a fresh bullish target that drew a mix of enthusiasm and criticism across Crypto Twitter.

Kim Doubles Down On XRP

“Based on my personal view, XRP could potentially reach $100 over the next 5 years. (NFA/DYOR),” the superbrain posted via X on Dec. 14. The post showed roughly 133,300 views.

Based on my personal view, #XRP could potentially reach $100 over the next 5 years. (NFA/DYOR)

— YoungHoon Kim, IQ 276 (@yhbryankimiq) December 14, 2025

Notably, Kim didn’t stop at the five-year call, either. In an earlier post on Saturday, he said: “In my view, XRP has a strong possibility of reaching a new ATH by the end of this year.”

Neither post included a detailed methodology or valuation framework. The reaction, accordingly, centered less on the specific target and more on the absence of supporting analysis — and on Kim’s public persona, which has become part of the conversation around his market calls.

Software engineer Vincent Van Code responded by asking for the underlying math in a joking tone: “Ok mr brain, please share with us your calculations. I too agree, I have calcs I shared using my 20 IQ brain.”

JD (@jaydee_757), a chart analyst popular in the XRP community, framed the post as momentum-driven: “Sounds like this boy bought the hype lol!” Gordon (@GordonGekko) added: “The smartest man in the world says XRP could hit $100 by 2030. Do you think this is a possible target?”

Larger trading and chart-focused accounts were more direct. Ali Martinez (@alicharts) wrote, “You can have the highest IQ and still be dumb AF,” while IncomeSharks asked, “Has one prediction you’ve said come true?” Both comments were posted in response to Kim’s XRP-related statements circulating over the weekend.

The posts are a continuation of a narrative that gained traction at the end of last week. As reported on Dec. 12, Kim’s first ever XRP related post on X — “I buy #XRP from now on” — came after a period of frequent Bitcoin-related posting.

Notably, Kim not only posted about XRP but also World Liberty Financial, the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform backed by the Trump family, over the weekend. On Sunday, Kim posted via X: “I personally buy WLFI every day, because I believe it is significantly undervalued based on my own assessment.” Again, there was no explanation or technical analysis. Just a provocant claim.

Already on October 24, Kim claimed that WLFI is more valuable than Bitcoin. “As the World’s Highest IQ Record Holder (by World Memory Championships & Official World Record®), I predict WLFI will soon reach a market cap of $5B. WLFI is the only crypto more valuable than Bitcoin,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, his Bitcoin price prediction for 2026 is not less sensational. “My analysis suggests that Bitcoin reaching 300K in early 2026 is a logical scenario,” he wrote on Dec. 11.

At press time, XRP traded at $1.99.

Young Hoon Kim — the social-media personality who styles himself as the “IQ 276” record holder — just gave the XRP crowd a fresh piece of rocket fuel. “I buy XRP from now on,” Kim wrote on X on Friday, in what appears to be his first straight-up XRP shoutout after days of near-constant Bitcoin evangelizing.

I buy #XRP from now on.

— YoungHoon Kim, IQ 276 (@yhbryankimiq) December 12, 2025

Why The XRP Endorsement Now?

And, yeah, the XRP Army did what it always does: it treated the post like a mini event. “The smartest man in the world is buying XRP,” one account, Gordon (@GordonGekko), replied — then immediately stapled the other big narrative of the day onto it: “XRP is now on Solana too. Is this the start of an XRP rally?”

That second line isn’t just vibes. Solana’s official account posted “BREAKING: XRP is coming to Solana,” pointing to a wrapped-asset setup that would let XRP trade and move inside Solana DeFi rails.

Hex Trust, which is positioning itself as issuer/custodian for the wrapped token (wXRP), says the product is designed to be 1:1 backed and redeemable for native XRP, using LayerZero’s OFT standard and launching “starting with Solana” (with more chains name-checked).

So Kim’s timing, intentional or not, landed right on top of a very convenient distribution channel: “XRP, but DeFi-ready.” If you’re an XRP holder who’s been watching Solana soak up memecoin liquidity and on-chain volume for the past year, that’s an easy story to forward to your group chat.

The funny part is Kim’s recent persona has leaned hard into Bitcoin-maxi prophecy. In the last week alone, he made dozens of Bitcoin posts via X. On December 7, he posted: “In my personal view, Bitcoin’s current price is just a temporary discount caused by what seems to be market manipulation. I think any such manipulation may disappear within a week, and then it could start accelerating toward a new ATH.”

Just a few days later, on December 10, he wrote: “My analysis suggests that Bitcoin may have set its bottom a few weeks ago, and we could now be entering a true supercycle.” One day later, he added: “”My analysis suggests that Bitcoin reaching 300K in early 2026 is a logical scenario.”

Yesterday, Kim posted: “Bitcoin looks ready to break every prediction ever written. The real bull run begins when people think it’s already over,” before adding today: “I think Bitcoin is the money of God” and “In my view, one of the fastest ways to get rich is to stack Bitcoin.”

So why the sudden XRP detour? No explanation yet, at least publicly.

There’s also the reality that Kim is, politely put, controversial. Korean coverage has described him as being reported as an “IQ 276” holder tied to mind-sports organizations, but the broader profile has drawn scrutiny and debate online, with questions about verifiability and sourcing trailing the “world’s highest IQ” framing.

Still, crypto doesn’t really wait for footnotes. A big claim, a big ticker, a hot comment section — and now an XRP-to-Solana headline to glue it together. That’s plenty for a one-day narrative.

At press time, XRP traded at $2.04.