XRP (XRP-USD) finally has what it spent nearly half a decade fighting for: full regulatory clarity. The SEC’s last appeal closed in August 2025, cementing the July 2023 ruling that XRP’s exchange-based sales are not securities. This long legal shadow is gone, and the market is recalibrating around a cleaner, safer asset.
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The question now is simple, but unavoidable. Is XRP going to keep going up, or is the rally losing steam after its courtroom victory?
Regulatory Clarity Gives XRP Its First Real Tailwind in Years
The lawsuit era ended decisively in 2025. The SEC walked away from its final appeal on August 7, locking in the 2023 ruling that XRP’s secondary-market transactions are non-securities. This triggered a return of U.S. liquidity that XRP had been shut out from for years. Major exchanges restored full support, and institutional desks regained confidence in making markets around the token.
Capital followed. CME (CME) futures open interest passed $1 billion in August, giving XRP its deepest derivatives infrastructure since launch. The pipeline of new institutional products continues to expand as managers regain regulatory certainty.
Momentum into 2026 is real, and it is stronger than anything XRP had through the bear market.
Institutional Drivers Start to Surface
Big money desks and multi-strategy hedge funds are rotating back into XRP. Liquidity depth has improved significantly since the appeals window closed, and spreads have tightened across both spot and futures venues.
ETF speculation also keeps building. Multiple issuers refreshed filings as soon as the legal process ended, and U.S. regulators are under pressure to treat XRP the same way they treat Bitcoin and Ethereum. A green light would change the asset’s demand profile overnight.
Payment utility continues to expand as well. Ripple’s ODL flows grew throughout 2025, and banks across Europe and Southeast Asia began turning pilot volumes into recurring corridors. The RLUSD stablecoin rollout, backed by BNY (BNY) as custodian, layered a new source of settlement demand on top of existing rails.
Risks Still Linger Beneath the Surface
Macro remains a drag. Liquidity cycles, Fed policy, and broad crypto risk appetite can erase momentum when volatility spikes. Competition from Stellar, USDC, and an increasingly modernized SWIFT network also shapes the long-term adoption curve. Escrow unlocks continue to add supply that XRP must absorb through real usage.
Those risks will define how far the next leg can run.
XRP Price Outlook for 2025–2026
A conservative view keeps XRP between $1.50 and $2.25. A base case assumes ETF approval or strengthening ODL demand, which puts the asset in the $3 to $5 zone. A true bull case requires both institutional acceleration and a strong crypto cycle, which opens the door to $8 to $15.
Key Takeaway
XRP finally enters a new chapter. The clarity it fought for since 2020 is now permanent, and the ecosystem is expanding more rapidly than at any point in the last cycle. Whether XRP keeps going up will ultimately depend on whether institutional demand, cross-border utility, and a potential ETF approval converge in 2026. The foundation is the strongest it has been in years, even if the market around it remains volatile.
At the time of writing, XRP is sitting at $2.1958.
