“Nine months ago today, Steak n Shake launched its burger-to-Bitcoin transformation when we started accepting bitcoin payments,” the company wrote in a post on X Monday (Feb. 17). “Our same-store sales have risen dramatically ever since.”

Under this system, the post added, bitcoin payments for Steak ’n Shake burgers are placed in a reserve fund used for “Bitcoin bonus pay” for its workers.

The news was flagged in a report by Coindesk, which noted that Steak ’n Shake had earlier this year announced it had added $10 million worth of bitcoin to its corporate treasury, as part of a “self-reinforcing” cycle in which diners pay in bitcoin, sales increase, and crypto revenue is added to the reserve.

The company began accepting bitcoin payments in May of 2025 and initially enjoyed a 10% increase in sales, the report added. Dan Edwards, the company’s chief operating officer, has said the chain saves around 50% when customers pay with crypto.

Coindesk said that the chain in October introduced a bitcoin-themed burger to its menu, donating part of each Bitcoin Meal to open-source bitcoin development.

The program is an example of the growing use of cryptocurrency as a payment method for everyday purchases.

“The range of goods and services purchasable with cryptocurrency has expanded far beyond the early days of novelty transactions,” PYMNTS wrote last week.

“Today, consumers can use digital assets to book travel, purchase consumer electronics, pay for cloud services, acquire luxury goods, and even settle recurring bills through intermediaries that convert crypto into local currency at the point of sale.”

However, the most important shift might not involve consumers making the decision to pay with crypto, but might come from stablecoin cards that let users hold value outside banks while spending within the card ecosystem.

“The competition around these products is less about retail payments themselves and more about which institutions will control the monetary layer beneath them, as they, in effect, represent a structural decoupling of deposit capture from payment activity,” PYMNTS added.

This situation has placed card networks like Visa and Mastercard, stablecoin issuers such as Circle and Paxos, and FinTechs, exchanges and wallets in a “three-sided race.”

Card companies are scrambling to weave stablecoins into their rails “before disintermediation risk materializes,” the report said, while the stablecoin issuers are seeking “to become the monetary layer those networks must carry.”

FinTechs, exchanges and wallets, meanwhile, are battling for customer ownership and program issuance.

XRP (XRP 1.55%), now hovering just below $1.50, deserves credit for having genuine utility in a market filled with meme coins and outright frauds. Created by Ripple, the token was designed to enable faster, cheaper transactions between financial institutions, especially across borders.

Partnerships with major banks, like Bank of America and Santander, show Ripple is doing something right.

So, where will XRP be in five years?

There’s a key difference in Ripple’s products

The bull case has always been simple: The banking system’s adoption of Ripple’s technology will drive XRP demand. But in my view, this misunderstands how banks actually use — or don’t use — Ripple’s products.

Ripple offers two core products. Though they’ve been recently unified as features under the umbrella of “Ripple Payments,” I’ll use their former names for clarity.

RippleNet is a settlement system that allows for faster and cheaper transactions, improving on legacy systems. But it is essentially a messaging service, and banks typically use it without ever touching XRP. This is the service the big-name banks like Bank of America have experimented with or adopted.

On-Demand Liquidity (ODL), on the other hand, actually uses XRP as a “bridge asset” for cross-border transactions. When, say, sending funds from a bank in the U.S. to a bank in France, ODL converts the dollars to XRP and then into euros.

Bulls argue that growing ODL adoption will drive demand for XRP, but this doesn’t hold up — at least enough to move the needle — for two reasons:

1. ODL serves smaller institutions facing liquidity constraints like fintechs and remittance providers, not major banks. It’s a relatively niche product that caps transaction volume growth.
2. Institutions immediately convert in and out of XRP. Each buy order is instantly matched with a sell order, meaning the bulk of global volume doesn’t create any sustained demand.

Stablecoins could pose a threat

And there’s another wrinkle: Stablecoins have quickly found a footing within traditional finance and banking systems, making them more efficient while providing more stability than XRP. And with recent legislation, their role within the system is only likely to grow.

Ripple recognizes this. That’s why Ripple has undergone a rebranding and made several key acquisitions, including the $200 purchase of RAIL. It’s clear Ripple wants its own stablecoin, RLUSD, to be a major player in the industry. Ripple’s own website now prominently features “integrate stablecoin payments into your business.”

That’s a problem for XRP’s value. RLUSD can function as an alternative bridge asset in ODL transactions and erode its already limited demand pressure.

Is XRP a buy going forward?

In five years, Ripple will likely be a thriving payments infrastructure company, even more so than today. RLUSD will probably have gained meaningful traction as a bridge asset for cross-border transfers.

But even if Ripple’s products genuinely transform cross-border banking, I don’t think XRP holders will benefit from it. In five years, I see it having struggled to keep up with the rest of the market — or worse.