XRP is a token issued on the Ripple payments network. It experienced two brief price surges in 2025, but has since fallen from its prior highs. As 2025 comes to a close, it’s looking like it’ll be a down year for major cryptocurrencies. Over the summer, XRP reached a price of $3.56, eclipsing the $3 threshold for the first time since 2018.
However, as of this writing (Dec. 18), XRP is trading roughly 48% below its intra-year high and has plummeted to a price of $1.86. Two of the biggest hurdles in sending funds overseas are timing and cost. Specifically, when businesses transfer money to a vendor in another country, it often takes days for the transaction to settle. Moreover, intermediary banks that handle these funds each charge their own processing and foreign transaction fees.
Ripple is a financial technology company seeking to disrupt the cross-border transactions market. The company’s infrastructure is able to process payments in seconds or minutes, compared to incumbent providers like SWIFT, which often takes multiple business days. In addition, Ripple’s service is often less expensive compared to traditional providers. Going into 2026, tailwinds could push wider crypto adoption, with banks and large retailers exploring stablecoins and other DeFi protocols, but there is no clear catalyst that guarantees XRP will reclaim $3 next year.
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