XRP's Price Plummets Amid Ripple's Institutional Growth

XRP's price has been declining despite Ripple's institutional growth and major catalysts for the token. In August 2026, XRP had lost around 70% from its July 2025 peak near $3.65. The company behind XRP, Ripple, cleared over $3 trillion through its prime brokerage in 2025 while securing a national trust bank charter.

Ripple's success is no longer tied to the performance of XRP, as the company's banking partnerships do not necessarily create demand for the token. The bull case argument that banks adopting Ripple's technology would drive demand for XRP is flawed, as it misunderstands how banks use Ripple's products and fails to account for the rise of RLUSD stablecoin.

RLUSD had crossed $1.7 billion in market value by August 2026 and has become a central part of Ripple's payment ecosystem, offering institutions a less volatile bridge asset. The XRP Ledger burns only about 0.0075% of the token's supply annually at Visa-level transaction volume, making it too small to make XRP meaningfully scarcer.