Ripple is signing up heavyweight partners and rolling out new infrastructure at a breakneck pace. Yet the XRP token continues to bleed value, caught between an institutional exodus on Wall Street and a regulatory vacuum in Washington. The disconnect between the company’s growth narrative and the market’s cold shoulder has rarely been starker.
Goldman Sachs dealt the most damaging blow. The bank completely liquidated its once‑massive XRP ETF position during the first quarter of 2026, a stake valued at roughly $154 million at the end of last year. Analysts read the move as a tactical pivot: Goldman had likely been holding the exposure only to service client trades, not as a long‑term conviction bet. The proceeds were instead plowed into crypto‑related equities such as Coinbase and Galaxy Digital. The move underscores a growing preference among large institutional players for capturing blockchain upside through stocks rather than through the tokens themselves.
Retail and smaller institutional money tell a different story. US spot ETFs on XRP pulled in $6.55 million on July 2 alone, marking the eighth consecutive week of positive flows. Assets under management across these products have swelled to around $988 million, while cumulative inflows since launch have reached nearly $1.4 billion. On‑chain data reinforces the accumulation narrative: the number of active XRP wallets surged 72%, and balances on exchanges declined, suggesting holders are moving tokens into custody rather than preparing to sell.
Ripple’s business development machine has not slowed. On July 4 the company launched a startup accelerator on the XRP Ledger in partnership with Hong Kong‑based Brinc, part of a broader push to position the network as a platform for real‑world applications rather than mere speculation. The same day, Ripple kickstarted a donation campaign tied to the 250th anniversary of US Independence Day, joining forces with the Call of Duty Endowment, an organisation that has already placed 165,000 veterans into jobs with a target of 200,000 by 2030. Donors can contribute cash, stocks, or crypto — including XRP and Ripple’s own stablecoin RLUSD — and Ripple will match gifts up to $10,000.
The company also signed on as a member of the newly formed Open USD Consortium, a stablecoin initiative backed by Visa, Mastercard, and BlackRock. The consortium’s dollar‑pegged token is slated for launch in 2026 on blockchains such as Solana and Polygon. Notably absent from the list of supported networks is the XRP Ledger itself. Ripple president Monica Long stressed the importance of cross‑chain payments, but the omission underscores a persistent reality: the company’s strategic wins do not automatically translate into demand for XRP.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying XRP?
On its own ledger, Ripple’s home‑grown stablecoin RLUSD is gaining traction. A third‑party research report found that RLUSD had already processed over $2.5 billion in settlement volume, with nearly $900 million coming from direct trading pairs against XRP. Yet even that usage has done little to arrest the token’s slide.
The price picture remains grim. XRP changed hands at $1.09 on Friday, up 3.25% on the day but nursing a weekly gain of 4.24%. Over the past month the token has lost 10.11%, and it is down 42% since the beginning of the year. The 12‑month decline stands at 51.38%. At $1.09, the token is trading 70% below its 52‑week high of $3.65 set in July 2025, while hugging just 7.34% above the 52‑week low of $1.01. All major moving averages sit above the current price: the 50‑day line at $1.21 (10.51% higher) and the 200‑day average at $1.49 (a 27.07% gap). The relative strength index of 42.9 signals neither overbought nor oversold conditions, but annualised volatility of 42.74% keeps the risk profile elevated.
A cloud of regulatory uncertainty continues to hang over the asset. The CLARITY Act, which would classify XRP as a commodity, remains stalled in the Senate. Lawmakers left for summer recess on June 29 and will not return until July 13, pushing any floor vote back to at least late July, with early August now the more realistic target. Over in California, the compliance deadline for the state’s Digital Financial Assets Law passed on July 1 without any enforcement action against Ripple, removing a short‑term friction point but doing nothing to clarify the federal picture.
For now, Ripple’s operational momentum and XRP’s price action are heading in opposite directions. Infrastructure players are lining up to work with the company, and on‑chain metrics suggest a committed holder base. But until a clear regulatory framework emerges — and until institutional giants like Goldman Sachs show a willingness to hold XRP rather than trade around it — the token’s long slide may have further to run.
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