XRP had a weak start to 2026 from a market perspective, but activity on the XRP Ledger increased significantly during the same period, according to Messari’s State of XRP Q1 2026 report.
Summary
- The price of XRP fell by 27% in Q1, but daily sales of XRPL increased by 35.3% to 2.48 million.
- RLUSD reached $340.3 million in XRPL, making it the largest stablecoin at the end of the quarter.
- The average RWA market for XRPL increased 124.1% QoQ to $2.25 billion, reaching a quarterly high.
The price of XRP has dropped as trading has slowed down
Messari said that XRP ended Q1 as the fourth largest non-stablecoin crypto asset by market value, behind Bitcoin, Ethereum and BNB. However, the token followed the broader market lower during the quarter.
XRP’s market cap fell 26.3% quarter over quarter to $82.21 billion. Its price also fell by 27.1% to $1.34, while circulating supply increased by 1.1% to 61.34 billion XRP.
Commercial activity also declined. Messari said the average daily spot fell 32 percent, while the price of perpetual futures fell 28.6 percent in the quarter.
The report said US spot XRP ETFs ended Q1 holding 775.4 million XRP. That represented 1.26% of total service delivery and was up 1.9% from the previous quarter.
XRPL activity has gone up
While the price of XRP was weak, network activity moved in the other direction. Messari said average daily transactions on the XRP Ledger increased by 35.3% quarter over quarter.
Daily transactions increased from 1.83 million to 2.48 million. The increase suggests that XRPL usage has expanded as the token price and trading activity has cooled.
The report tied that growth to a broader network feature set. XRPL continues to support payments, token issuance, limited liquidity, real-world assets and stablecoins.
Messari also noted that XRP remains tied to the use of the network for transactions, account balances, liquidity, asset ownership and linking to all currencies.
RLUSD and tokenized assets lead growth
Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin grew during the quarter. Messari said RLUSD closed Q1 with a market capitalization of $340.3 million in XRPL, up 44.9% quarter over quarter.
That makes RLUSD the largest stablecoin on the XRP Ledger. The report also stated that RLUSD had more holders of XRPL than Ethereum at the end of the quarter, although Ethereum still held the largest transfer volume.
The real world XRPL asset market has also risen sharply. Messari said the RWA market in the network increased 124.1% quarter over quarter to $2.25 billion.
The growth has pushed XRPL into the top group of blockchains in the token asset community. The report said the network ranked seventh by RWA market cap at the end of Q1 and fourth at press time.
The financial instruments of the institution increased
Messari said new institutional financing tools also advanced during the quarter. Licensed Domains, Licensed DEX and Token Escrow go live on XRPL.
The native features of the loan and the asset vault remain on the ballot. If approved, those tools may support borrowing, lending and systematic use of XRP and other assets on the network.
As previously reported by crypto.news, Morgan Stanley recently disclosed small positions in two ETFs focused on XRP. XRP funds also attracted $85.8 million in revenue in three weeks, indicating continued demand for regulated products.
Separate filings also marked the tension in the market. RLUSD can help increase the use of XRPL, but stablecoin payments do not always create the same direct demand for XRP as a bridge asset.
Messari said its report was commissioned by Ripple, and Messari retained editorial control. The report still shows a clear breakdown of Q1: XRP price and trading activity decreased, while XRPL transactions, RLUSD adoption and token asset growth continued to increase.
