XRP price keeps tumbling as Trump-era crypto gains get wiped out. How low can it go in 2026?
It’s a hard time to be an XRP investor. The token, the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has been on a downward trajectory for nearly half a year. And this week, things have gotten much worse. Here’s what you need to know about XRP and the beating the coin is taking.
What’s happened?
The price of XRP is getting pummeled today. In the last 24 hours, the token’s value has plunged nearly 14.5% as of the time of this writing, falling from above $1.50 per coin to around $1.36.
And that’s just the most recent price shock for the coin. Looking back over the past month, XRP is down more than a staggering 41%, according to Yahoo Finance data. On January 5, the coin was trading as high as $2.41.
Even more astounding: XPR topped $3.60 a coin in July 2025, meaning it’s now down more than 60% from its summer high.
For XRP investors, the token’s fall over the past six months is difficult to stomach. Many had high hopes for the rising cryptocurrency star, especially after Donald Trump entered the White House for a second term last January, leading an administration seen as very crypto-friendly.
Why is XRP falling?
It’s important to note that XRP is not the only token that has been hit hard in the past several months. Most major cryptocurrencies are on the decline as of late, including Bitcoin (down nearly 25% in the past month), Ethereum (down 35%), and BNB (down 25%).
As Fast Company previously reported, two main factors are driving the fall of cryptocurrencies this year. The first is the renewed strength of the U.S. dollar (USD). At the end of last month, President Trump announced his pick for the new chair of the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh. The news sent the U.S. dollar surging.
But because cryptocurrencies are generally priced in U.S. dollars, a stronger dollar means more tokens can be bought with the same amount of fiat currency, making them appear cheaper and thus lessening their value.
The rising dollar has led to a selloff in some cryptocurrencies as investors try to protect their digital gains before they fall further.
And then there is the seemingly unending geopolitical uncertainty rocking the world, most of it spurred on by Trump himself. First it was America’s attack on Venezuela, then it was Trump’s threats to take Greenland from America’s allies by force, and now it’s the possibility of military strikes on Iran.
All this geopolitical uncertainty breeds risk, and increased risk typically sends investors into safe-haven assets: typically gold or U.S. dollars. Given that cryptocurrencies are historically highly volatile, the digital coins are seen as anything but a safe haven.
Ripple comments anger XRP ardents
Given that XRP is the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, it’s no surprise the digital token has a large number of ardent supporters behind it. Recently, some of those supporters were angered by comments made by David Schwartz, CTO emeritus of Ripple.
Ripple is a private company that offers software to financial institutions that facilitate international money transfers. Ripple is also the largest owner of XRP tokens in the world.
This connection is one of the reasons why some supporters of XRP may have been angered by online comments that Schwartz had made earlier this month. As noted by Benzinga, Schwartz said he thought it was unlikely XRP would ever hit the $50 to $100 price range. But Schwartz noted that his past predictions had been wrong before.
While Schwartz’s comments don’t seem to be a big driver of XRP’s price in either direction, they may have contributed to fears that astronomical gains for the coin are out of reach for the foreseeable future.
Indeed, as CoinDesk reports, XRP is now at its lowest level since October 2024—wiping out all the gains it had achieved after the crypto-friendly Trump administration returned to office. And now there are fears that the token may fall to the $1 mark if its trajectory does not change course.
Whether that actually happens remains to be seen.