Controversial American media personality and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has issued an alarming warning to XRP holders, arguing that governments could eventually attempt to seize private assets as the global financial system comes under mounting pressure.
However, Jones repeatedly stressed that he was not making a specific price prediction for XRP and did not consider himself an expert on the cryptocurrency.
“I am not predicting what XRP is gonna do,” Jones said in a recent video posted on X. “I am not involved in this market. I am not an expert on [it].”
Jones recalled claims that the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and European authorities had discussed mechanisms that could result in private financial assets being used or impaired during a banking collapse.
According to Jones, the message was effectively: “We are going to start grabbing your cryptocurrencies. We’re going to grab your bank accounts. We’ll grab your house.”
Jones went on to claim that governments facing a systemic financial crisis would attempt to “grab” whatever assets they could.
“I am not predicting that’s going to happen to your holdings. I am not an XRP expert,” he stressed.
Jones claims that his arguments should not be interpreted as an attack on XRP or Bitcoin themselves. In fact, he described cryptocurrencies as “great.”
“We are in the age of the system going down, and that’s what the establishment is going to try,” he said.
Jones’s comments appear to refer, at least in part, to existing bank-resolution frameworks in the United States and the European Union. However, the FDIC does have sweeping legal powers when an FDIC-insured bank fails. In fact, the FDIC explicitly states that crypto assets are not covered by federal deposit insurance in the first place.
Meanwhile, the European Union developed its Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive, or BRRD, to allow the restructuring of failing banks. It is worth noting that covered deposits are explicitly excluded from the BRRD’s bail-in powers.
Sensationalism
XRPL validator and ecosystem contributor Vet questioned why Jones was presenting existing bank-resolution rules in such dramatic terms. “Alex, why this sensationalism?” Vet wrote on X.
Vet pointed out that the FDIC has never announced a policy under which it can simply seize people’s cryptocurrency or homes.
“If an insured Bank fails, the FDIC covers qualifying deposits up to 250K per depositor and category. Everything the bank itself owns gets sold to pay creditors,” he wrote.
“Uninsured deposits like holdings above the 250K limit can take a hit because they are, well, uninsured.”
XRP stored in a self-custody wallet is not a bank deposit and does not become an asset of an FDIC receivership simply because a bank elsewhere fails.
