New York, March 2, 2026, 13:04 EST — Regular session
XRP dropped 3.7% in the last 24 hours, landing around $1.34 after touching $1.3386 at its lowest, Binance data show. Roughly $2.50 billion worth of XRP changed hands over that period, putting its implied market cap close to $81.8 billion.
Investors are reeling from surging energy prices following the escalation of the U.S.-Israeli air campaign against Iran, with oil and gas climbing and safe-haven assets like gold drawing fresh interest. “The actions that the United States and Israel took over the weekend has global markets on edge,” Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Northlight Asset Management, said. Reuters
Oil’s sharp move has taken over as the key driver in currencies and crypto. Brent jumped up to 13% during the session, with bitcoin climbing 5.43% to $69,271, according to Reuters. “It’s mostly about exposure to oil,” said Steve Englander, who runs global G10 FX research and North America macro strategy at Standard Chartered Bank in New York. But for Marc Chandler, Bannockburn Global Forex’s chief market strategist, “the uncertainty” is the bigger issue—not which way things are headed. Reuters
Rate bets are moving around. The latest U.S. manufacturing survey found factories paid sharply more for inputs, hitting the steepest level in almost three and a half years — a clear signal that inflation can resurface fast when energy or shipping costs climb. The Institute for Supply Management’s PMI, a standard monthly read on factory activity, stayed above 50, still pointing to expansion.
One XRP-related supply move also caught traders’ attention. Blockchain tracker Whale Alert reported three separate Ripple escrow unlocks: 200 million, 300 million, and 500 million XRP, adding up to 1 billion tokens, with a total value near $1.38 billion at the time.
Regulatory headlines didn’t take a back seat. Turkey’s ruling AK Party put forward a proposal to slap a 10% withholding tax on crypto-asset income and gains, to be collected each quarter. Crypto service providers, for their part, would see a 0.03% transaction tax on any sales or transfers they process or facilitate, according to Reuters.
XRP, the token linked to Ripple—the blockchain company specializing in payments—often moves alongside wider “risk-on/risk-off” trends, though it’s also sensitive to unique factors: big transfers, shifts in exchange liquidity, and regulatory news can all spark a reaction.
The direction isn’t set in stone. Some investors warn that markets might still be overlooking the risk of a longer-lasting energy shock—a scenario that would feed into inflation and keep central banks on alert, raising the stakes for speculative assets. “We see further (market) downside in the coming days,” said Jefferies economist Mohit Kumar. Over at Commerzbank, chief economist Joerg Kraemer described the oil market’s reaction so far as “relatively moderate,” considering the threat to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Reuters
XRP’s immediate challenge: will the selling pressure spill over from smaller tokens, tightening liquidity or widening spreads on big exchanges? Oil and rates holding steady might offer some relief, but the market hasn’t gone that way yet.
Coming up, all eyes turn to Friday’s U.S. jobs report for February—due out March 6 at 8:30 a.m. ET—while crude price moves and the latest Middle East headlines also figure into the mix.
