XRP price is extending its recovery, with the token trading around $1.52 at press time after climbing another 3% today. The latest XRP price move comes alongside a major increase in activity on the XRP Ledger, while trading in XRP investment products has also picked up considerably.
The combination is worth watching. Price alone can rally because of speculation, but a simultaneous increase in network usage can provide another indication that attention is returning to the asset.
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XRP Network Activity Jumps 655%
Crypto analyst Ali Martinez highlighted a major change in XRP network activity, pointing to data attributed to Santiment. According to the chart he shared, the number of active addresses increased from 47,180 to 356,070, representing a rise of approximately 654.7%.
Martinez argued that such a large increase typically points to considerably higher network participation and can also coincide with greater price volatility.
The chart makes the change particularly striking. For much of the displayed period, XRP network activity remained relatively subdued, with daily readings clustered near the bottom of the range. Activity then suddenly moved into a completely different range, first climbing toward roughly 300,000 addresses before reaching 356,000.
That means this is not simply a small improvement in activity. Based on the data shown in the chart, the network saw several times more active addresses than it had only days earlier.
For XRP bulls, this is encouraging because the increase has arrived at the same time that the XRP price has recovered to around $1.52. If elevated address activity persists rather than disappearing after a few days, it would provide stronger evidence that the current increase represents a meaningful change in participation.
There is an important distinction, however. More active addresses do not automatically mean that XRP’s price must continue higher. Address activity can increase for several reasons, and unusually high network activity can accompany both buying and selling. The more important question is whether activity remains elevated and whether it translates into sustained transaction demand.
It is therefore better to view the 655% increase as a significant on-chain development rather than a standalone bullish price signal.
Bitwise XRP ETF Trading Volume Breaks Records
XRP is also seeing considerably more activity in traditional financial markets.
The Bitwise XRP ETF recorded its three busiest trading sessions since its November 2025 launch, with combined trading volume exceeding $200 million. More than $60 million changed hands during each of the first two sessions, followed by more than $80 million on August 24, setting another daily record.
The timing is notable because these records arrived alongside XRP’s strong August price recovery. Investors who access XRP through brokerage accounts appear to be trading the product far more actively than before.
Volumes in the Bitwise $XRP XRP ETF have really popped over the last 3 sessions.
— Teddy Fusaro (@teddyfuse) August 24, 2026
Over $80 million traded today, and over $60 mm each of the prior two days – each of which would have been its highest volume day since inception. pic.twitter.com/wcEQk9nNrD
However, trading volume should not be confused with ETF inflows. The $200 million figure represents the value of ETF shares traded between market participants. It does not mean $200 million of fresh capital entered XRP or that Bitwise purchased $200 million worth of XRP.
Even with that distinction, three consecutive volume records are significant. They indicate that interest in XRP exposure through the ETF market increased considerably during the price rebound.
Combined with the increase in XRP Ledger addresses, the numbers paint a similar picture from two different parts of the market: XRP is attracting far more activity than it was only recently.
Read hot XRP story: We Asked 3 AI Models If XRP Price Can Ever Reach $100
SWIFT Says 75% of Cross-Border Payments Now Reach Banks Within 10 Minutes
Another development worth watching comes from SWIFT, particularly because XRP is frequently discussed in the context of cross-border payments.
SWIFT says 75% of payments traveling across its network now reach the beneficiary bank within 10 minutes, while more than 90% arrive at the beneficiary bank within an hour.
The important detail is what happens afterward.
According to SWIFT, the international “in-flight” portion of a transaction accounts for less than 20% of the average end-to-end payment journey. The remaining 80% or more is associated with the last mile, meaning the period after the payment reaches the beneficiary bank but before the recipient’s account is actually credited.
That distinction is pretty important when discussing XRP and the broader blockchain payments sector. The argument that legacy cross-border payments are universally slow is becoming less accurate. SWIFT has substantially improved the speed at which instructions and payments move between financial institutions.
The competitive question is increasingly about end-to-end settlement, 24/7 availability, liquidity, cost, interoperability and how quickly the final recipient can actually use the funds.
SWIFT itself is moving further into blockchain technology. In July, the organization announced that its blockchain-based ledger was ready for initial use, with 17 banks preparing to pilot tokenized cross-border payments.
For XRP, that creates both an opportunity and a challenge. Blockchain-based settlement is becoming more relevant to mainstream finance, validating an area that Ripple and the XRP ecosystem have focused on for years. At the same time, established financial networks are upgrading their own infrastructure, meaning XRP will need to compete on practical advantages rather than simply on the claim that traditional cross-border payments are slow.
For now, XRP holders have another reason to watch the numbers closely. Price is back around $1.52, network activity has increased dramatically, and XRP ETF trading has reached record levels.
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