XRP Falls 5.5% After Senate Delays Clarity Act Vote

XRP (XRP), the digital asset associated with Ripple, was the weakest major token over the past seven days, losing 5.5% and sliding to about $1.02 as the U.S. Senate left Washington without taking up the Clarity Act. The delay matters because the market-structure bill would define which federal regulator oversees each digital asset, and traders had been watching for a clearer legal path for large-cap altcoin products. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the measure would be considered when lawmakers return on Sept. 14, leaving a three-week window crowded with government-funding and sanctions priorities. Procedurally, the bill needs 60 votes to advance, and several Republicans have signaled opposition, while Democrats are pushing for provisions that would stop President Donald Trump from gaining personal financial benefit during his term. Trump disclosed more than $1 billion in income from crypto ventures in 2025. That political uncertainty spilled across majors: Bitcoin hovered near $64,300 after spot funds attracted roughly $626 million from Aug. 3 to Aug. 5, enough to defend the $63,000 to $64,000 zone but not enough to clear $66,000 resistance. XRP’s decline was sharper than the broader altcoin tape, with Solana, Dogecoin and Ether posting smaller moves while XRP led majors lower. Near-term macro data adds another layer. The Federal Reserve held rates at 3.50% to 3.75% in July, though three officials voted for an increase, and next week’s employment and inflation prints may reinforce tighter-policy expectations. That backdrop typically reduces appetite for higher-beta crypto, leaving XRP more exposed than Bitcoin while the Clarity Act remains stalled. The token’s underperformance also came despite generally supportive flows into Bitcoin exchange-traded products, suggesting that the current bid is concentrated in Bitcoin rather than spreading across majors. For market participants, the immediate question is whether the token can hold the low-$1 range until the Senate returns, or whether a broader bear market rotation continues to pressure assets without a near-term regulatory catalyst.

Technical and fund-flow signals frame the next XRP (XRP) threshold. Earlier in the session, at 02:31 UTC, the token traded near $1.04 with a market value around $65.31 billion, before a later 04:17 UTC reading showed it near $1.02. The token registered a 1.77% decline, underscoring that buyers have not yet seized control. Some observers describe the pattern as price construction rather than a confirmed recovery, which means confirmation must come from sustained closes, not a single bounce. Chart observers are treating the $1.05 area as the first line of defense after a symmetrical-triangle breakdown on the three-day chart left momentum fragile. Multiple gravestone-doji candles and a loss of triangle support suggest the market may still be rebuilding a base rather than preparing an immediate move toward a prior all-time high. Resistance levels being watched include $1.11, $1.21, the $1.28 to $1.30 zone, and $1.38. More importantly, analysts say a three-day close above $1.50 to $1.51 would weaken the downside setup and reduce the likelihood of a slide toward $0.88. Institutional attention received a separate lift from Grayscale’s Form 8-K, an SEC EDGAR disclosure tied to GDLC, the manager’s five-asset index fund. The filing indicates that GDLC completed its quarterly portfolio review and moved into a scheduled rebalancing process, setting up a reweighting of XRP alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and BNB under the index methodology. No filing confirms a higher XRP weight yet, but the process raises the possibility that passive institutional exposure could increase if the index assigns the token a larger allocation. That matters because XRP’s liquidity is thinner than Bitcoin’s in many venues, whether on centralized order books or through an automated market maker, and even mechanical rebalancing can have an outsized signaling effect. Whether the fund flow becomes visible depends on the final weights and the pace of creations or redemptions, but the filing places XRP back inside a regulated institutional wrapper at a time when legislative clarity remains unresolved.

JPMorgan warned that continued delays in passing the Clarity Act could cause tokenization and blockchain applications to be absorbed by traditional market infrastructure rather than benefiting public crypto networks, pointing to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation's July 15 pilot to tokenize stocks and U.S. Treasuries alongside firms including JPMorgan and Vanguard. The bank described the legislation as a significant potential catalyst for institutional adoption and said declining passage odds represented a headwind for the broader crypto market. Prediction platform Kalshi estimated the bill carried only a 17% chance of becoming law by year-end, a level JPMorgan said fell below what institutional investors typically require for new mandates. Adding to the bill's headwinds, Coinbase pulled its backing after objecting to provisions that could restrict stablecoin rewards and competition, a dispute that contributed to a postponed Senate Banking Committee markup.

Derivatives data showed $9.93 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, with $9.60 million concentrated in long positions against just $330,620 in short losses—a roughly 29-to-1 imbalance that turned a modest dip into cascading forced closures. The selloff pushed XRP from $1.037 to $1.014 before spot buyers absorbed the displaced supply and lifted the token back toward $1.04. Ecosystem developments offered little near-term support: Ripple secured MiCA approval through Luxembourg, opening a regulatory pathway across EU member states, and the XRP Ledger's v3.3.0 upgrade was scheduled for release this week, while exchange-held supply fell to a seven-year low. Spot ETF inflows, however, remained well below expectations, leaving these structural positives without meaningful price impact as the Clarity Act delay continued to dominate sentiment.

Supply-side pressures intensified alongside the legislative delay. On August 1, Ripple executed its scheduled escrow release, unlocking 1 billion XRP into circulation—a routine event that nonetheless adds psychological weight during a weak-price environment. Institutional demand offered no offset: spot XRP ETF products recorded approximately $3.58 million in net outflows on August 5, confirming that previously sluggish inflows had tipped into outright redemptions. Twenty-four-hour trading volume rose roughly 6.9% even as price declined, a divergence that typically signals sell-side dominance rather than accumulation. With circulating supply now at approximately 62.53 billion tokens and the $1.05 level having flipped from support to resistance, the combination of fresh escrow supply and retreating institutional bids leaves the $1.00 psychological floor as the near-term line of defense.

(as of 02:41 UTC) COINOTAG's 42-indicator composite engine frames XRP's near-term range between a strong support cluster at $1.0091 (75/100, anchored by S2, ATR Lower, Keltner Lower, and Fibo 0.000) and a strong resistance wall at $1.0699 (63/100, formed by R3, EMA 20, Fibo 0.114, and BB Middle). With spot at $1.0300, RSI at 37.58, and MACD signaling bearish momentum, price sits closer to the downside trigger than the upside breakout. Derivatives add a cautionary note: funding has turned negative at −0.0040% with open interest near $654.4 million, yet the long/short account ratio stands at 3.52 (77.9% long), suggesting crowded retail conviction against the prevailing downtrend. The broader backdrop—Fear & Greed at 30/100 and BTC dominance within COINOTAG's tracked universe at 69.9%—reinforces risk-off conditions. A sustained break below $1.0091 would open the moderate-support zone between $0.6752 and $0.8622, while reclaiming $1.0699 would shift the structure toward the $1.1075 Ichimoku/EMA 50 cluster and ultimately the $1.2151 POC level.