Perplexity AI published updated price scenarios on Jan. 7, 2026, laying out upside cases into the end of 2026 for three altcoins: XRP around $9, Sui at $9.26, and Shiba Inu up to $0.00009 under specific conditions. The important point is that these are conditional paths tied to identifiable catalysts, not fixed outcomes.
The same scenarios also acknowledge the obvious constraint: forecasts like these sit in a wide field of AI and analyst models with very different conclusions. That dispersion is the clearest signal of model risk, so the scenarios work best as “if-then” frameworks rather than predictions to anchor positioning.
How the Upside Cases Are Framed
For XRP, the scenario reaches roughly $9 by late 2026 if momentum and institutional demand remain intact. The logic is built around improved access and demand, with U.S. spot-ETF flows described as a potential tailwind, alongside the idea that post-legal clarity could support broader institutional participation. The text itself highlights how uncertain that path is by noting that other forecasts range from under $2 to double-digit outcomes.
For Sui, the $9.26 year-end scenario is tied to performance and developer traction. The model points to Sui’s reported peak capacity of up to 297,000 TPS and upgrades such as Mysticeti as the core drivers that could pull in applications and capital. But the downside risk is not subtle: token unlock schedules are flagged as a meaningful source of sell pressure that can cap upside or turn rallies into supply-driven reversals.
For Shiba Inu, the $0.00009 case is explicitly gated by both price and adoption conditions. It depends on SHIB clearing roughly $0.000025 resistance and on Shibarium adoption and burn dynamics improving tokenomics in a material way. Even then, the scenario openly recognizes the structural hurdle that SHIB’s large supply makes extreme price targets hard to sustain without major utility growth and a significant market re-rating.
What Actually Matters for Traders and Treasuries
If you translate these scenarios into execution reality, the risk profile is different for each asset. For XRP, the upside thesis assumes deeper institutional access that could reduce slippage on large orders, but it still requires modeling concentration and regulatory tail risk.
For Sui, the bullish narrative is about scalability lowering friction for higher-volume on-chain strategies, while the bearish pressure comes from supply mechanics. Token unlocks are the key operational overhang because they can introduce persistent sell pressure that complicates inventory and delta-neutral strategies. For SHIB, the bottleneck is microstructure: liquidity depth and burn rates matter because large orders can move the market when organic utility demand is not broad enough. In that setup, market impact and execution cost become the hidden drivers.
What makes these scenarios useful is that the checkpoints are measurable: protocol upgrades, token unlock calendars, and ETF-related developments. Those are the variables that will decide whether the upside paths described for late 2026 gain traction or get capped by dilution, liquidity constraints, and sell-pressure dynamics.