XRP entered 2026 with a challenging start in terms of price action, but the underlying XRP Ledger (XRPL) demonstrated meaningful growth, according to Messari’s latest State of XRP report.
The report highlights a clear divergence between the token’s softer market performance and improving network fundamentals. During the quarter, stablecoin adoption, tokenization of real-world assets, and on-ledger transaction activity all showed notable increases.
XRP Price Declines as Trading Activity Drops
In the first quarter, XRP generally ranked as the fourth-largest non-stablecoin cryptocurrency by market capitalization, behind Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Binance Coin.
Despite this position, XRP felt the broader market pullback. Market capitalization fell roughly 26% quarter-over-quarter to about $82 billion, and the token’s price declined about 27% to $1.34 at the time of the report.
Messari’s analysis also noted a weakening in trading volumes. Average daily spot trading volume decreased by about 32%, while perpetual futures volume fell around 28.6% over the same period. Even so, institutional exposure continued to grow: by quarter’s end, exchange-traded funds held roughly 775.4 million XRP, representing approximately 1.26% of the circulating supply.
XRPL Records Growth in Stablecoins, RWAs, and Transactions
While XRP’s market price weakened, on-ledger activity on XRPL moved upward, supporting a narrative of stronger fundamentals. Average daily transactions rose roughly 35% quarter-over-quarter, climbing from about 1.83 million to 2.48 million.
Adoption of stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets also strengthened during the quarter.
Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin expanded significantly on XRPL, reaching a market capitalization of $340.3 million by quarter end — an increase of about 45% from the prior quarter. Meanwhile, the market cap of real-world assets tokenized on XRPL surged 124% quarter-over-quarter, reaching an all-time high near $2.25 billion.
Messari further documented new infrastructure developments designed for institutional-grade decentralized finance. During the quarter, permissioned domains, permissioned decentralized exchanges, and token escrow services went live on the ledger. Native lending protocols and asset vaults remained in the voting process, indicating continued progress toward broader institutional use cases.
Taken together, these indicators suggest XRPL’s institutional finance narratives continued to gain traction despite the weakening price of XRP. Growth in transaction counts, stablecoin supply, and tokenized real-world assets point to increased on-ledger utility and infrastructure maturity that could support long-term network adoption.