New York, January 29, 2026, 13:53 ET — Trading hours
- XRP has dropped roughly 6% over the last 24 hours, following a wider crypto market downturn
- A U.S. Senate panel has pushed forward a crypto market-structure bill, though its passage remains far from assured
- Ripple is promoting a new treasury platform, buoyed by an appeals court ruling in its favor in a protracted investor lawsuit
XRP dropped 6.1% in the last 24 hours, slipping to $1.80 on Thursday amid a broader crypto sell-off triggered by new U.S. policy updates. According to CoinMarketCap data, XRP’s 24-hour trading volume hit roughly $4.2 billion. 1
The timing is crucial for XRP as Washington reenters the picture. Clearer federal guidelines could open doors for institutions to trade and hold tokens more freely, but this is happening just as the Federal Reserve hints it’s holding off on further rate cuts.
The global crypto market cap dropped to roughly $2.86 trillion, sliding 5.65% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin took a 6.57% hit, trading at $83,876, while ether declined 6.78% to $2,802. 2
On Wednesday, the Fed left its benchmark rate steady at 3.50%-3.75%. Chair Jerome Powell described the economy as “solid” and noted it had “surprised us with its strength.” Michael Pearce, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, predicted an “extended pause.” 3
On Thursday in Washington, the Senate Agriculture Committee pushed forward a bill giving the Commodity Futures Trading Commission control over spot crypto markets—meaning the actual trading of tokens—and laying out rules for digital-asset exchanges, brokers, and dealers. But the measure still needs backing from Democrats to pass the Senate. Senator Cory Booker said lawmakers are “almost in the red zone” as he demanded more rules related to decentralized finance. Reuters reported the White House plans to meet banking and crypto leaders Monday to chart a way ahead. 4
Ripple, known for its ties to XRP, is steering the conversation back to products. It rolled out “Ripple Treasury, Powered by GTreasury,” targeting corporate finance teams handling cash and digital assets. The platform promises to optimize liquidity in real time while cutting settlement delays and FX risk in cross-border payments. “The integration of GTreasury’s 40 years of treasury expertise with Ripple’s cutting-edge blockchain infrastructure creates something that has never existed before,” the company said in its announcement. When acquiring GTreasury, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse noted that treasury teams could “finally put their trapped capital to work.” 5
The legal pressure continues. In an unpublished memo filed Jan. 27, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld summary judgment against investors claiming XRP sales were an unregistered securities offering. The court ruled the Securities Act claims were barred by a three-year statute of repose—a strict deadline starting from the first public offer. The panel noted Ripple was offering XRP publicly as early as 2013. 6
That case runs parallel to Ripple’s previous clash with the SEC. Back in August 2025, the SEC dropped its lawsuit against Ripple but kept a $125 million fine and a ban on selling XRP to institutional buyers in place, after both parties agreed to drop their appeals, Reuters reported. 7
The risk is clear-cut: the Senate bill could get stuck, and a sharper pullback in risk assets might drown out company-specific news. XRP often behaves like a high-beta play on overall sentiment, not merely on Ripple developments.
Traders are turning their attention to Monday’s White House discussions and Ripple’s XRP Community Day, a virtual event planned for Feb. 11-12. Ripple executives will address issues like ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and “wrapped” XRP—tokenized forms meant to operate across different blockchains. 8
