The state of Ripple and XRP is now vastly different compared to a few years ago. The legal battle with the SEC is now behind them. It was officially settled in 2025 for a fine of $125 million. Since then, the entire focus has been shifted from fighting in court to growing.
And there’s been a lot of it. Ripple is expanding into new markets, signing partnerships, and getting more attention from institutions than ever before.
But despite all that progress, the XRP price is still not keeping up. It’s still trading sideways because of other economic factors that are affecting the world, like inflation and high interest rates.
So despite all that’s going on and all that’s positive for XRP, its price is still lagging behind.
What you'll learn 👉
The Post-Lawsuit Era Has Changed Everything For XRP
The major change occurred in March 2026, when the U.S. financial authorities, the SEC and CFTC, finally provided clear guidance. Now, XRP has officially been classified as a digital commodity and not a security.
That removed a major barrier. With the legal uncertainty gone, Ripple can fully operate in the U.S. again. And they’re not slowing down.
The company is pushing hard internationally, especially in places like Brazil, where it’s working toward regulatory approval and building out financial infrastructure for payments and custody.
The goal is simple: become a key player in global finance.
Now, this is where things start to get interesting. TheCryptoBasic shared that institutions are starting to pay much closer attention to XRP, especially when it comes to tokenization.
Ryan Rasmussen from Bitwise confirmed that investor interest has surged, with institutional questions reportedly tripling in recent months.
That’s not just casual curiosity. When firms like Goldman Sachs start expanding their tokenization efforts, it signals something bigger. Wall Street isn’t just experimenting anymore, it’s slowly positioning for long-term involvement. And Ripple’s XRP is part of that conversation.
Institutions Are Asking About $XRP and Tokenization, Bitwise Research Chief Ryan Rasmussen Confirms. #Ripple
— TheCryptoBasic (@thecryptobasic) March 26, 2026
Bitwise says investor engagement has surged, with questions tripling as sentiment turns more constructive.
Firms like Goldman Sachs are expanding tokenization efforts,… pic.twitter.com/nuRkxvjWrf
The Mastercard Partnership and RLUSD Reality
Ripple also joined the crypto partner program of Mastercard, alongside dozens of other firms. Moves like this matter because they show traditional finance is willing to work with blockchain companies at a deeper level.
Then there’s RLUSD, Ripple’s stablecoin. It’s designed to improve cross-border payments, but there’s a catch. Most of its activity is currently happening on Ethereum, not the XRP Ledger.
So while Ripple’s ecosystem is growing, that growth doesn’t fully translate into direct demand for XRP yet. That could change over time.
For example, Australia approved a licensed stablecoin on the XRP Ledger, which could help drive more on-chain activity where XRP actually benefits.
Read Also: Grok AI Predicts the Price of XRP, Ethereum, and Solana by The End of 2026
Why the XRP Price Hasn’t Exploded Yet
With all this progress, it’s fair to ask: why is XRP still around $1.36?
The answer mostly comes down to the bigger market. Right now, macro conditions are still tight. High inflation, cautious investors, and global uncertainty are keeping risk assets under pressure. Even strong fundamentals aren’t enough to push prices higher in that kind of environment.
There’s also selling pressure from large holders. Whales have been moving XRP onto exchanges like Binance, which adds short-term pressure.
So for now, it’s a mix of strong growth underneath and resistance from the outside.
XRP Price Targets for 2026
Should big players such as Goldman Sachs fully embrace tokenization, it is likely that XRP is going to gain. It is all up to how quickly these institutions adopt the network and utilize it as much as possible.
In a scenario where institutional interest trickles in slowly, the XRP price could stabilize around $3.80. However, if the adoption of the tokens increases and there is more real-world use on the XRP Ledger, the price could rise to the level of $4.50.
In the best case scenario, if the tokenization process is in full swing and the market conditions are favorable, the XRP price could rise to the level of $5.20.
It should be noted that reaching these prices is not guaranteed. It requires more transactions to move directly onto the Ripple XRP Ledger, sustained institutional demand, and a smoother macroeconomic backdrop.
The encouraging sign is that institutions are already asking more questions and exploring the possibilities, which in crypto often signals that the next major move is just around the corner.
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