A well-known crypto trader with the pseudonym Sensei insists he’s shorting XRP, branding it a shitcoin despite the launch of the Grayscale XRP Trust.

For context, leading digital asset manager Grayscale Investments recently launched its XRP Trust. The development came on the back of the final ruling in the Ripple v. SEC lawsuit, which lasted for nearly four years. Despite the possibility of an appeal, Grayscale moved forward with the launch.

This XRP Trust was the first of four steps toward the introduction of an XRP ETF. Grayscale followed the same cycle for its Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. Just like with the Bitcoin ETFs, market watchers believe an XRP ETF could attract enough capital to catalyze a price surge for XRP.

Remarkably, amid reports of the trust’s launch, XRP recorded an impressive price rally on Sept. 12. It retested the $0.588 high for the first time in three weeks before retracing slightly. Despite holding on at $0.5820, Sensei revealed in a post on X that he would be shorting XRP at this price level.

XRP Criticisms

The crypto trader stressed that he does not particularly care about the recent reports surrounding the launch of the XRP Trust. He insisted that XRP is a “shitcoin,” a tag he has labeled the crypto asset in recent times. This tag from Sensei comes despite XRP’s utility in payments and its role as a gas token.

Interestingly, following this disclosure, XRP recorded further corrections, closing Sept. 12 at $0.5336. However, this drop was not unique to XRP, which performed significantly better than most assets. For instance, XRP ended Sept. 12 with an impressive 5% rise, while Bitcoin (BTC) only saw a 1.39% increase.

XRP extended the gains to the next day, securing another 1.77% rise on Sept. 13, as it closed the day at $0.5727. This marked XRP’s first intraday close above $0.57 since Aug. 27.

Meanwhile, Sensei’s latest criticism of XRP builds on a long-term antagonism against the crypto asset. The trader has consistently criticized XRP, arguing that it is not capable of reaching any significant heights. Recently, he highlighted that XRP’s market dominance slumped from 32% to 1.5% in seven years.

$XRP went from 32% to 1.5% dominance in 7 years.

Who still buying this useless shitcoin ? pic.twitter.com/Ce7E0KPBzS

— Sensei (@SenseiBR_btc) September 13, 2024

He has continued to insist that XRP would miss the bull run, a pattern that occurred in 2021. Four days ago, he pointed out that Bitcoin has been outperforming XRP. According to him, investors should not buy XRP, as he insists it is a “Shitcoin.”

A Tale as Old as Time

However, it is important to note that such criticisms are not new. These remarks also emerged from late 2016 to early 2017 during the pre-bull run period of that cycle. Notably, XRP largely underperformed against Bitcoin and the rest of the market, triggering criticisms.

However, XRP registered a breakout when the bull market matured. The token recorded a 110,233% spike from its low of $0.003 in January 2017 to its all-time high of $3.31 in January 2018. With this rally, XRP eventually outperformed the market. Some analysts believe this could play out again in this cycle, but this remains uncertain.