XRP had a weak start through 2026 from a market perspective, but activity on the XRP Ledger rose sharply over the same period, according to Messari’s Q1 2026 State of XRP report.
summary
- The price of XRP fell by 27% in the first quarter, but daily XRPL transactions rose by 35.3% to 2.48 million.
- RLUSD reached $340.3 million in value on XRPL, making it the largest stablecoin in the network by the end of the quarter.
- The RWA market cap of XRPL jumped 124.1% QoQ to $2.25 billion, hitting a new quarterly high.
XRP price fell as trading cooled
sender He said XRP ended the first quarter as the fourth-largest non-stable crypto asset by market capitalization Bitcoin, Ethereum and BNB Bank. However, the currency followed the broader market trend lower during the quarter.
XRP’s market cap fell 26.3% quarter-on-quarter to $82.21 billion. Its price also fell by 27.1% to $1.34, while the circulating supply rose by 1.1% to 61.34 billion XRP.
Trading activity also slowed. Al-Masari said average daily spot volume fell by 32%, while perpetual futures volume fell by 28.6% during the quarter.
The report said that US XRP ETFs ended the first quarter holding 775.4 million XRP. This represents 1.26% of circulating supply, up 1.9% from the previous quarter.
XRPL transactions increased
while Ripple price Weakened, network activity moved in the opposite direction. Masari said average daily transactions on the XRP Ledger increased by 35.3% quarter-on-quarter.
Daily transactions increased from 1.83 million to 2.48 million. The increase indicates that XRPL usage has expanded even as the token’s price and trading activity have declined.
The report linked this growth to the network’s broader feature set. XRPL continues to support payments, token issuance, decentralized liquidity, real assets, and stablecoins.
Massari also noted that XRP remains tied to network usage through transaction fees, account reserves, liquidity, asset ownership, and cross-currency pegs.
RLUSD and token assets are driving growth
Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD grew during the quarter. RLUSD closed the first quarter with a market cap of $340.3 million on XRPL, up 44.9% QoQ, Massari said.
This makes RLUSD the largest stablecoin in the XRP Ledger. The report also said that RLUSD had more XRPL holders than Ethereum by the end of the quarter, although Ethereum still handled a higher transfer volume.
The market capitalization of real assets of XRPL also rose sharply. Massari said the market value of RWA on the network rose 124.1% quarter-on-quarter to $2.25 billion.
The growth has pushed XRPL into the top group of public blockchains for token assets. The network ranked seventh in terms of RWA market capitalization at the end of the first quarter and fourth by press time, the report said.
Expansion of institutional financing tools
Al-Masari said that new institutional financing tools also advanced during the quarter. Permitted Domains, Permitted DEX and Token Escrow have been launched on XRPL.
Domestic lending and asset treasury features remained up for vote. If approved, these instruments could support more regulated lending, borrowing, and use of XRP and other assets on the network.
Ditto I mentioned By crypto.news Morgan Stanley recently disclosed small positions in two XRP-focused ETFs. XRP funds also attracted inflows of $85.8 million over three weeks, indicating continued demand through regulated products.
It also has separate coverage male The main tension in the market. RLUSD can help increase the use of XRPL, but stablecoin settlement does not always create the same direct demand for XRP as a bridge asset.
Massari said his report was commissioned by Ripple, while Massari retained editorial control. The report still showed a clear split in Q1: XRP price and trading activity declined, while XRPL transactions, RLUSD adoption, and token asset growth rose.
