Recent crypto swoon has pushed Bitcoin ether and major CoinDesk indices to the point where they are posting low or negative returns over the past 365 days – an unenviable position that only XRP has managed to avoid.
As of Sunday, payments-focused XRP was up 89% over the past 365 days, far outpacing the modest 3.6% gains seen by Bitcoin and the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), according to CoinDesk data.
The CoinDesk 5 Index (CD5) rose just over 2%, making it the only other gainer, while ether saw a steady 2% gain. Meanwhile, rivals like Solana And suffered heavy losses, both down more than 36%. The CoinDesk Meme Index had the worst performance, down 78%, reflecting the heavy price paid by the riskier segments of the crypto market.
XRP is also the only major token to post a positive gain year-to-date.
What makes XRP’s outperformance more impressive is that its price is down 36% from the all-time high of over $3.6 recorded four months ago. BTC, the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has also fallen 24% since hitting a high of over $126,000 on October 8.
Several catalysts, including regulatory developments, contributed to XRP’s outperformance.
The resolution of the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple, the financial technology company that uses XRP to facilitate cross-border transactions, was a major milestone, removing a significant legal hurdle that had clouded the prospects for XRP adoption in the United States. This paved the way for increased institutional participation and is considered a critical turning point for the widespread adoption of XRP.
On the technology front, Ripple’s deployment of the XRPL EVM sidechain and Ripple stablecoin RLUSD, which reached a market cap of $1 billion within a year of its December 2024 launch, has expanded the use case for XRP beyond payments and into DeFi applications.
Ripple’s strategic partnerships in key regions, such as the Middle East, and its application for a banking license in the United States have further strengthened the appeal of XRP, as evidenced by the launch of Canary Capital’s spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States last week. The fund debuted with the highest first-day volume of any ETF this year.
Leading industry observers are confident that XRP ETFs will be hugely successful in attracting demand from institutional investors.
“I think it would be a huge, huge product. There’s a lot of interest in XRP,” Hunter Horsley, CEO of asset manager Bitwise, told CoinDesk TV. “There is a lot of energy, enthusiasm and interest around this,”
Horsley explained that more than $100 trillion currently sits on traditional financial rails, and more of that amount is migrating on-chain. An ETF is often the first time many of these assets can gain exposure to a new asset. “If investors have the opportunity to trade and gain exposure to XRP, it will be a very useful and in-demand product,” he said.
Outperformance at cost
There is an old saying: nothing is free, and this certainly applies to XRP.
Although the token has outperformed several major cryptocurrencies, it has also been among the most volatile, according to CoinDesk data.
XRP’s 365-day annualized volatility stands at 91%, compared to 44% for Bitcoin. The only assets with higher volatility are CoinDesk Meme Index at 115.85% and Cardano at 100.55%.
However, with growing institutional interest and potential ETF approvals on the horizon, XRP’s volatility may ease as it attracts more stable, long-term capital.
