- The XRP blockchain has hit new milestones.
- Institutions taking interest as regulatory fog clears up, insiders say.
- Still, XRP is down 64% from its July peak.
XRP fans say that the Ripple-linked cryptocurrency has a lot going for it, but traders remain unconvinced as the asset trails behind Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Asheesh Birla, CEO of XRP treasury firm Evernorth, is the latest to wax lyrical about the prospect of an XRP rally, arguing that a slew of regulatory victories is building momentum for institutional adoption.
“Institutional momentum is forming around XRP at a pace that didn't exist 18 months ago,” Birla said on Monday. “The financial stack is being built.”
His bullishness comes at a crucial time for both XRP and the crypto industry. XRP is down 64% from its July all-time high, underperforming Bitcoin and other cryptoassets.
Cryptocurrency markets have been dragged down by the uncertainties caused by the war in the Middle East and profit-taking by whales. Cryptocurrencies now trade 44% below their October peak.
Two key developments
Institutional players are eyeing digital assets like never before.
The XRP blockchain is already running real-world financial tools like lending, stablecoins, instant currency exchange, and moving digital assets, with daily transactions reaching a new daily high of 4 million, Birla said.
Birla pointed at two developments in Washington that altered the structural backdrop for XRP and the broader crypto marke: new regulatory guidance and the progress with the Clarity Act.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued joint regulatory guidance for the crypto industry.
The new guidance formally classifies a group of digital assets — including XRP — as digital commodities. It provided long-sought clarity for blockchain-based businesses.
“The SEC’s persistent failure to provide clarity in this question is over,” Paul Atkins, chair of the SEC, said in a speech at the DC Blockchain Summit in March.
Still, Atkins noted that the only way to truly future-proof the guidance was to get it inked into law. Otherwise, a less crypto-friendly SEC chair could easily order another about-face for the agency’s crypto policing.
One such law is in the works. If approved, the Clarity Act, a sweeping market-structure bill, would give legal weight to stablecoin oversight and broader digital asset frameworks.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has said that the bill is key to ensuring that US President Donald Trump’s vision of making the US “the crypto capital of the world” becomes a reality.
“We need the Clarity Act to get [it] done,” Garlinghouse said in March.
He and other members of the crypto community seem confident that the industry, banks and politicians will soon be able to push through the legislative standoff and get the bill signed into law.
Polymarket punters put the chances of the bill being signed into law in 2026 at 62%, down from 82% in February.
The window is closing, however. The Democrats look certain to give the Republicans a battering in the upcoming midterm elections. If that happens, it’s likely that very little legislative work will be done before the 2028 presidential election.
“If Clarity dies, enforcement-by-litigation stays America’s crypto policy,” Pierre Person, CEO of the blockchain firm Steady Labs, told DL News on Monday.
XRP price
To be sure, not everyone is convinced that XRP will recover.
“I’m just not convinced that in this marketplace, XRP is going to succeed at regaining the stature that it once had, which is sad and unfortunate,” Ric Edelman, founder of Edelman Financial Engines, told DL News in March.
Others, like Bitwise’s Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan, note how spot XRP exchange-traded funds have attracted $1.2 billion in inflows since launching on November 13, SoSoValue data shows. But much of that capital arrived before January — since then, inflows have stagnated.
“Let’s be honest, the flows are positive but they’re really low — will it in the end matter?” Edelman said.
Eric Balchunas, analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, told DL News in March that the main factor that will determine XRP’s success is Bitcoin. If the biggest cryptocurrency in the world rallies, then so will altcoins like XRP.
“And then probably need some more good news, some more adoption,” Balchunas said. “But it’s a thing that exists in the ecosystem; it’s one of the top tokens, and the ETFs have been pretty successful.”
Lance Datskoluo is DL News’ Europe-based markets correspondent. Got a tip? Email him at lance@dlnews.com.
