Holders of XRP faced renewed pressure as the token traded at depressed levels on global cryptocurrency markets. Market data shows the token traded at $1.30 on February 6, 2026, after profit-taking and continued escrow releases.
Post-lawsuit selling followed when Ripple paid a $125 million fine in August 2025. Institutional flows rotated toward Bitcoin and Ethereum, adding further downward pressure.
Network utility weakened, with daily transaction fees falling from 5,900 XRP early 2025 to 650 XRP by December 2025. ETF products attracted about $1.3 billion but then recorded outflows, including a $93 million exit on January 30, 2026.
Escrow releases of up to one billion XRP per month continued to act as supply pressure. Competition from stablecoins, Stellar, and Solana narrowed XRP’s addressable market.
Standard Chartered projects an $8 price for XRP by end-2026, citing sustained ETF demand. At Davos, Brad Garlinghouse called institutional interest “a massive sea change” and said, “We are a very vested party.”
Regulatory and infrastructure gains included Dubai approval for regulated crypto payments and a remittances deal with Riyad Bank. The U.S. Office of the Comptroller provisionally licensed Ripple to be a bank in December 2025, expanding institutional pathways.
Ledger stablecoin activity rose to roughly $208 million and then about $407 million between October 2025 and January 2026. (Ed. note: the gap between $1.30 and many institutional price targets remains substantial.)
