XRP had a weak start to 2026 from a market view, but activity on the XRP Ledger rose sharply during the same period, according to Messari’s State of XRP Q1 2026 report.
Summary
- XRP price fell 27% in Q1, but XRPL daily transactions rose 35.3% to 2.48 million.
- RLUSD reached $340.3 million on XRPL, making it the network’s largest stablecoin by quarter-end.
- XRPL’s RWA market cap jumped 124.1% QoQ to $2.25 billion, reaching a new quarterly high.
XRP price fell as trading cooled
Messari said XRP ended Q1 as the fourth-largest non-stablecoin crypto asset by market value, behind Bitcoin, Ethereum and BNB. Even so, the token followed the wider market lower during the quarter.
XRP’s market cap fell 26.3% quarter-over-quarter to $82.21 billion. Its price also dropped 27.1% to $1.34, while circulating supply rose 1.1% to 61.34 billion XRP.
Trading activity also slowed. Messari said average daily spot volume fell 32%, while perpetual futures volume declined 28.6% during the quarter.
The report said U.S. spot XRP ETFs ended Q1 holding 775.4 million XRP. That represented 1.26% of circulating supply and was up 1.9% from the previous quarter.
XRPL transactions moved higher
While XRP price weakened, network activity moved in the opposite direction. Messari said average daily transactions on the XRP Ledger increased 35.3% quarter-over-quarter.
Daily transactions rose from 1.83 million to 2.48 million. The increase suggests that XRPL usage expanded even as token price and trading activity cooled.
The report tied that growth to the network’s wider feature set. XRPL continues to support payments, token issuance, decentralized liquidity, real-world assets and stablecoins.
Messari also noted that XRP remains tied to network use through transaction fees, account reserves, liquidity, asset ownership and bridging across currencies.
RLUSD and tokenized assets lead growth
Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin grew during the quarter. Messari said RLUSD closed Q1 with a $340.3 million market cap on XRPL, up 44.9% quarter-over-quarter.
That made RLUSD the largest stablecoin on the XRP Ledger. The report also said RLUSD had more holders on XRPL than Ethereum by quarter-end, although Ethereum still handled larger transfer volume.
XRPL’s real-world asset market cap also rose sharply. Messari said RWA market cap on the network climbed 124.1% quarter-over-quarter to $2.25 billion.
The growth pushed XRPL into the top group of public blockchains for tokenized assets. The report said the network ranked seventh by RWA market cap at the end of Q1 and fourth by the time of publication.
Institutional finance tools expand
Messari said new institutional finance tools also moved forward during the quarter. Permissioned Domains, Permissioned DEX and Token Escrow went live on XRPL.
Native lending and asset vault features remained in voting. If approved, those tools could support lending, borrowing and more structured use of XRP and other assets on the network.
As previously reported by crypto.news, Morgan Stanley recently disclosed small positions in two XRP-focused ETFs. XRP funds also attracted $85.8 million in inflows over three weeks, showing continued demand through regulated products.
Separate coverage has also noted a key market tension. RLUSD can help grow XRPL usage, but stablecoin settlement does not always create the same direct demand for XRP as a bridge asset.
Messari said its report was commissioned by Ripple, while Messari retained editorial control. The report still shows a clear Q1 split: XRP price and trading activity fell, while XRPL transactions, RLUSD adoption and tokenized asset growth moved higher.
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