YoungHoon Kim, a South Korean individual who claims to have the world's highest IQ of 276, published five bold cryptocurrency predictions on X (Twitter) and placed XRP (XRP) at the center.
Kim has a large following on social media and regularly posts about Bitcoin (BTC), XRP, and general market trends.
Kim declares himself to be the son of XRP
In a fast-paced message thread on X, Kim referred to himself as the “son of XRP,” claiming that he was “born to take XRP to 100 dollars” and that “no one can stop him.” He also stated that “crypto is about to explode.”
These messages are part of Kim's increasingly fervent advocacy for XRP. He has previously predicted that the price of XRP would rise to $100 within five years and has claimed that the Ripple token is better than BTC.
At the time of writing, the price of XRP was $1.32, which had decreased by 1.67% in the last 24 hours. Specifically, a rise to $100 would mean a 7,475% increase compared to current values.
Kim was not limited to XRP. He stated that the altcoin season had begun at '100%', predicted meme coins to rise first, and referred to BTC as 'practically a meme coin'.
Bold claims face skepticism.
Kim's cryptocurrency predictions receive particular attention due to his claimed IQ of 276, with which he markets himself as the smartest person in the world. However, the claim has faced ongoing criticism.
Initially, his prediction given on January 6, estimating that the price of Bitcoin would rise to $100,000 within 48 hours or by January 8 at the latest, went wrong, as BTC fell from $93,747 ending at $91,099.
His previous cryptocurrency predictions have also failed to materialize. Kim predicted that XRP would reach a new all-time high by the end of 2025, which did not happen. He also estimated that BTC would rise to $300,000 by early 2026, but this level has not come close.
Similarly, a study published by VICE in July 2025 reported that high IQ experts were unable to replicate the score he claimed based on his test data.
Chris Leek from Mensa called the extrapolation attempts of 276 'complete nonsense'. Australian psychometrician Jason Betts estimated that Kim's actual score would not exceed 175.
Kim's supporters, such as GIGA Society Professional, have defended that the score of 276 is based on a standard deviation of 24, which corresponds to 210 on the more commonly used SD15 scale. A preprint supporting this view was published in August 2025 but was later retracted.