NEW YORK, Jan 29, 2026, 10:10 (EST) — Regular session
- XRP dropped roughly 4.7% to $1.82, retreating from an earlier climb near $1.92.
- Traders balanced a Federal Reserve pause and a move toward “real assets” against news tied to Ripple’s legal battles and product updates.
- Bitcoin and ether slipped further, adding to the downward pressure across the crypto market.
XRP dropped roughly 4.7% to $1.82 on Thursday, pulling back from an earlier high of $1.92. Bitcoin slid about 3.6%, while ether took a bigger hit, falling around 5.6%, weighing on the broader token market.
The dip follows the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep its benchmark rate steady between 3.50% and 3.75%. Chair Jerome Powell called the economy “solid” and indicated the Fed was “well-positioned” to decide on future cuts. Michael Pearce, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, anticipates an “extended pause,” with markets eyeing June as the earliest chance for a rate cut. Reuters
For XRP, the context now carries extra weight. The token has turned into a quick gauge of risk appetite, often jumping sharply with shifts in U.S. rate expectations or whenever legal and adoption news about Ripple drops.
This week’s macro moves have been all over the place. Gold climbed to new highs while the dollar remained soft, despite investors wrestling with the Fed’s next moves and trying to navigate political and policy uncertainties.
Wenny Cai, Synfutures’ chief operating officer, noted that markets are undergoing “a broad repricing of risk.” Commodities and other real assets have been outperforming, while speculative growth plays — crypto among them — have lagged behind. Barron’s
Ripple saw a win this week as a U.S. appeals court panel upheld summary judgment in its favor on a class-action lawsuit claiming XRP was sold as an unregistered security. The court ruled the claims were barred by the Securities Act’s three-year statute of repose—a strict cutoff that stops lawsuits even if new evidence surfaces later. The memo pointed out that XRP was publicly offered as early as 2013 and dismissed the plaintiff’s 2017 sales as not constituting a separate offering.
Ripple is still pushing hard on the corporate front. GTreasury, which Ripple recently acquired, rolled out “Ripple Treasury, Powered by GTreasury.” The new platform aims to help CFOs and treasurers handle both traditional cash and digital assets while slashing settlement delays and easing cross-border hassles. gtreasury.com
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told PYMNTS that the new rollout’s combined features aim to help finance teams “put their trapped capital to work” and “process payments instantly.” PYMNTS.com
Traders aren’t rushing to see the legal win or product launch as a guaranteed boost in prices. The court’s decision came as a non-precedential memorandum, leaving markets uncertain about how fast corporate adoption will drive steady token demand.
Macro data is the next hurdle. All eyes are on Friday’s U.S. Producer Price Index for December 2025, set for an 8:30 a.m. Eastern release. Investors hope it sheds light on inflation trends and interest rate forecasts — numbers that could ripple through crypto markets via the dollar and bond yields.
