NEW YORK, March 26, 2026, 13:41 EDT
XRP slipped to roughly $1.36 on Thursday, shedding about 4% in the past 24 hours. Investors pulled back from riskier assets after oil prices surged and hopes for a Middle East ceasefire dimmed. Trading volume for the token hovered close to $1.9 billion over 24 hours, CoinMarketCap data showed.
This shift landed just hours after Ripple rolled out its Singapore pilot for payments infrastructure. Any optimism from that news got swept aside as a macro-driven selloff took over, underscoring once again: crypto is still trading on war headlines and oil swings first.
Not just XRP feeling the heat. Bitcoin hovered close to $69,000, off roughly 3.2%. Ether, meanwhile, gave up about 4.5% to settle near $2,068. Solana dropped over 5%, all of which signals widespread liquidation among major tokens.
Brent crude climbed past $105 as Iran shot down reports of negotiations with Washington to resolve the conflict. Global equities slipped and the dollar gained ground. “We’re in a market that’s being driven by oil prices,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities, in comments to Reuters. Reuters
Just a day before, things looked different. Global equities gained, oil prices slipped—investors holding out for a possible de-escalation. “Markets were susceptible to whipsaws around the news cycle,” said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide Financial. Reuters
On March 25, Ripple announced it’s teaming up with supply-chain finance company Unloq as part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s BLOOM project, moving to pilot programmable trade settlement using the XRP Ledger blockchain. “Singapore is providing the regulatory clarity necessary for the digital asset space to thrive,” said Fiona Murray, Ripple’s Asia Pacific managing director. Ripple
The trial runs on RLUSD, Ripple’s stablecoin pegged to the dollar. That’s a digital token intended to stick right at $1, according to Ripple—unlike XRP, which trades at market rates.
Right now, traders are watching one thing: support at $1.3750 for XRP, according to IG market analyst Axel Rudolph. If that level goes, he says the next zone to watch is $1.3425 to $1.3125.
Regulatory uncertainty has eased compared to last year. In August, Reuters said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission wrapped its case against Ripple, keeping a $125 million penalty but shutting down a lawsuit that had shadowed XRP since 2020.
Still, the downside’s clear enough. This week, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink warned that oil hitting $150 a barrel spells “global recession.” Crypto snapped back fast on Wednesday as ceasefire chatter picked up—further peace news might spark another rally. But without that, XRP sits in territory that technical traders say leaves it vulnerable to more losses. Reuters
