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The new spot XRP ETF has already attracted more than $1 billion from investors.
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Ripple, the company behind the XRP token, spent $2.5 billion on blockchain acquisitions last year.
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The XRP blockchain ledger could become an integral part of new asset tokenization initiatives.
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10 stocks we like better than XRP
Every year, expectations are high XRP (Crypto: XRP). Despite the fact that XRP has never traded above $3.84, investors expect the price of this high-risk, high-upside cryptocurrency to rise.
Well, this may be the year that finally happens. Three important catalysts are on the horizon that could help send XRP’s price higher in 2026.
Let’s start with the launch of new spot XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in November 2025. They’ve already pulled in over $1 billion from investors, and have seen positive net inflows almost every day they’ve been available. In other words, they’ve been a big hit with investors, leading to a mini-rally in XRP to start the year.
But $1 billion can only be a start. last year, JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) All the pent-up demand from institutional investors suggested that as much as $8 billion could flow into these ETFs. If this is the case, the price of XRP has nowhere to go.
At the same time, Ripple (the company behind the XRP token) is actively acquiring new companies to build the XRP blockchain ecosystem. Last year, Ripple spent about $2.5 billion on a handful of acquisitions, including $1.25 billion for Hidden Road, a global institutional prime brokerage.
The thinking here is that 2026 will be a consolidation year for Ripple and XRP. All of those acquisitions will tie together into an end-to-end financial product for institutional investors, and all of these will likely be powered by XRP.
It is not yet clear how this will all work, but one thing is certain: these acquisitions will open up many use cases for the XRP token. Based purely on supply and demand, this should help stoke the value of XRP.
The XRP blockchain is attempting to become the “blockchain” for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. To make this a reality, Ripple has already partnered with several top financial institutions on RWA projects.
The asset tokenization project that got everyone buzzing last year was a behind-the-scenes collaboration. Black Rock (NYSE: BLK )The world’s largest asset manager. BlackRock’s tokenized fund for US government debt can now be traded and managed on the XRP blockchain.
