Ripple's XRPL Daily Transactions Jump 21% to 2.4M Despite XRP (XRP) Price Slump

XRP (XRP) Usage Grows While Price Lags

XRP (XRP) has spent 2026 losing value even as the network beneath it expanded at a record clip. The token closed July at $1.06, down 42.7% from the end of 2025, and sits 27.5% lower year-to-date, with daily trading volumes down 64% to $2.38 billion as the ETF-driven optimism of late 2025 unwound. On-chain activity tells the opposite story: between January and July, average daily transactions on the XRP Ledger climbed 21% to 2.4 million, according to a half-year Ripple and XRP report from data firm Token Relations. Validator count grew from 119 to 141 over the same stretch. The biggest structural shift came from Ripple's dollar stablecoin, RLUSD: its market cap rose 23.4% to $1.58 billion by end-July, and $907.2 million of it — 58.9% of total supply — now circulates on the XRP Ledger, up from 18.4% at the start of the year, while Ethereum's RLUSD share fell 39.4% to $632.2 million. The Ledger's overall stablecoin market peaked at a record $1.02 billion on July 13 and closed the month at $798.4 million, up 173.9% versus December. The token has since rebounded roughly 32% from its August low near $1 into the low-$1.30s.

Token Relationshttps://x.com/TokenRelations/status/2094852350880141472?s=20

1 Billion XRP Escrow Unlock and XRPL 3.3.0

September opened with supply mechanics taking center stage. On September 1, Ripple unlocked 1 billion XRP through three separate escrow transactions of 500 million, 400 million and 100 million XRP — roughly $1.38 billion at prevailing prices — under its long-standing monthly release program, as covered in our monthly escrow release recap. Unlocking is not selling: Ripple has historically re-locked most unused tokens, and about 31.28 billion XRP remained in escrow after the release, so the tradable-supply impact depends on where the tokens flow next. The protocol side carries a defined date too. The XRPL 3.3.0 release, which introduces confidential transactions using zero-knowledge-proof techniques to hide amounts and balances while keeping addresses visible, has drawn 82.86% validator support and entered a two-week activation window, with mainnet activation possible as early as September 11. The upgrade targets multi-purpose tokens and institutional users, and patches vulnerabilities in single-asset vaults, lending protocols, AMMs and pseudo-accounts — a security step for the Ledger's nascent DeFi 2.0 layer. One week later, on September 15, the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the CLARITY Act, which could cement XRP's commodity classification in law.

Price Tests $1.31 Support

The tape is softer than the fundamentals. XRP trades near $1.32, down 7% on the week after failing to hold its August run toward $1.70, with a seven-day range of $1.31-$1.47 per CoinGecko data. Ripple returned 700 million XRP to escrow shortly after the unlock, a routine offset, yet the token slipped below the $1.35 demand zone that analysts had flagged as one of the chart's most significant. A CryptoQuant post from analyst Darkfost noted 500 million XRP left Binance — a flow the analyst framed as relatively positive for XRP over the long term rather than a short-term price driver. Ledger usage keeps climbing: cumulative XRPL transactions crossed 3 billion, with on-chain volume surging 200% even as spot price cooled. Macro offers the wider altcoin market no cover — Bitcoin trades below $77,000 and Ethereum under $2,400 amid US-Iran tensions and hawkish Fed expectations. Support sits at $1.31-$1.34; a clean break opens the low $1.20s. Resistance stacks at $1.39, then $1.47, with $1.70 the higher-timeframe ceiling. Derivatives desks show no futures FOMO yet — a coiled spring, as our recent $369 million long squeeze note and Bart Simpson pattern analysis both underscored. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on MEXC.

Our read: the divergence between a 27.5% year-to-date price decline and 21% growth in daily Ledger transactions is the defining tension for XRP holders, and September forces a resolution. The primary on-chain record — 3 billion cumulative transactions, 2.4 million daily transactions, and half a billion XRP leaving Binance in a single tracked flow — shows usage and supply discipline, not abandonment. Whether the XRPL 3.3.0 upgrade and the CLARITY Act vote convert that network growth into sustained demand for XRP's cross-border settlement asset is the question the next two weeks will answer; a Senate pass could reprice the token toward $2, while failure likely pins it to the $1.31 support zone.