XRP Price Fails to Budge Amid Ripple's Growth
Ripple's growth as a regulated financial institution has not translated into a significant increase in the price of its native cryptocurrency, XRP. Despite launching its dollar stablecoin, RLUSD, and securing a conditional U.S. national trust bank charter, XRP's price remains at $1.07, 72% below its all-time high of $3.84 set in January 2018.
Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, which have seen their prices climb significantly over the years due to factors such as halving events and the introduction of spot ETFs, XRP's price has been stagnant. The primary reason for this is the increasing supply of XRP, with around 63 billion coins currently in circulation, up from 34 billion at the 2018 peak.
Ripple releases up to a billion XRP from escrow each month, but most of it is locked back immediately, leaving only a small fraction available for trading. In contrast, Bitcoin's halving events and Ethereum's staking mechanism help reduce the supply of these cryptocurrencies, which in turn supports their prices.