New York, Feb 21, 2026, 12:37 (EST) — The market has closed.
- XRP tacked on roughly 2% over the last 24 hours, managing to stay above the $1.40 mark during weekend trading.
- Ripple CEO says there’s a strong shot a U.S. crypto market-structure bill clears into law before the end of April.
- The SEC’s comment window for T. Rowe Price’s proposed crypto ETF—which would include XRP—closes Feb. 23.
XRP advanced roughly 2% to $1.44 Saturday, catching a bid as trading volumes eased during Wall Street’s break. The token ranged from $1.41 to $1.46 in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin climbed 1.8%, sitting near $68,271, while ether picked up about 2%, changing hands around $1,987, according to CoinMarketCap. (CoinMarketCap)
Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse is betting big on the CLARITY Act. The CEO put odds at 90% that the crypto market-structure bill lands on the books before April is out. “The White House is pushing hard on this,” he told Fox Business, according to PYMNTS. Over on X, Coinbase chief Brian Armstrong echoed the optimism: “Market structure is making great progress, and I believe we’re going to reach a win-win-win outcome.” (PYMNTS.com)
XRP investors are watching the clock as the bill battle remains tangled with how U.S. regulators define crypto—and which agency gets the controls. Lately, policy headlines have been steering token moves more than fundamentals, particularly beyond bitcoin.
The SEC has kicked off proceedings on NYSE Arca’s bid to list the T. Rowe Price Active Crypto ETF, according to a Federal Register notice. This fund could include XRP in its lineup, along with bitcoin, ether, and other tokens. Initial feedback is due by Feb. 23, with rebuttal comments set for March 9. The notice specifically names XRP as one of the assets the sponsor is considering for the ETF. (GovInfo)
Macro moves are still rippling through the market. Stocks in the U.S. closed higher Friday after the Supreme Court tossed out President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs. Trump, though, said he wants a fresh 10% tariff. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported its personal consumption expenditures price index—favored by the Fed—rose 0.4% in December, with a 2.9% year-over-year increase. GDP growth, on the other hand, slowed, coming in at a 1.4% annual pace for the fourth quarter. (Reuters)
Crypto’s moves still track expectations for looser monetary policy. Rate cuts on the horizon? Traders often push speculative assets higher. Hotter inflation, though, and those same assets usually lose ground.
XRP’s narrative is clear: Ripple touts its payments tech, insisting the token speeds up money transfers. Still, the moves this week have mostly followed the usual script—tracking signals out of Washington.
Stablecoin rewards have tripped up the CLARITY talks, too. The dispute centers on interest-like payouts for holders—can issuers and platforms legally offer these? Stablecoins, pegged to the value of one U.S. dollar, are at the heart of the argument.
Still, the process gets messy from here. The SEC isn’t locked in by public comments—approval isn’t a given. And if the agency decides to drag out its review, that could drain the momentum fueling “regulatory clarity” themes that traders have already factored in.
XRP remains well under its 2018 high. Traders tend to dump policy hopes the moment legal language hits. Toss in another wave of risk-off trading — tariffs, geopolitics, sticky inflation — and smaller tokens often lose ground just as quickly.
Investors are watching for signals that the SEC might finally let more crypto-linked funds through—ideally without dragging the process into years of litigation and rewriting. For XRP, the stakes are even higher. The token sits right on the regulatory edge, far more so than bitcoin.
Feb. 23 stands as the first key deadline, with initial comments on the NYSE Arca request for the T. Rowe Price fund set to arrive then.
