Ripple is in the middle of its most aggressive expansion phase since launching the XRP Ledger, but the company's corporate wins are not translating into gains for XRP. The stablecoin RLUSD, launched less than two years ago, has grown into a $1.6 billion asset. Ripple has also acquired Hidden Bank — now rebranded as Ripple Prime — and rolled out services for tokenized assets and AI-focused developer tools on the XRP Ledger. Cross-border payments remain a core push. By Ripple's own account, 2025 and 2026 have been the busiest and most successful years in the company's history from a business and expansion standpoint.
RLUSD and the Expansion Strategy
The stablecoin RLUSD is now a $1.6 billion asset, giving Ripple a foothold in the fast-growing stablecoin market. The acquisition of Hidden Bank, now called Ripple Prime, added banking infrastructure. Meanwhile, the company has been building out tokenized asset services and AI developer tools on the XRP Ledger, aiming to attract a broader developer base. These moves are part of a strategy to diversify revenue beyond the original cross-border payments business, which Ripple continues to push.
XRP Price: A Different Story
XRP's price surged last year after news broke that SEC Chair Gary Gensler would step down, signaling the end of the long-running legal battle between Ripple and the regulator. That rally took XRP to a peak just over a year ago. Since then, the price has been mostly downhill. Even the launch of several XRP exchange-traded funds in November failed to deliver the sustained price gains that many had expected. Retail investors, who remain heavily focused on XRP's price movements, have been disappointed.
The Disconnect Between Ripple and XRP
Ripple and XRP are still linked — Ripple holds a large amount of XRP and uses the ledger for its products. But the relationship is not as tight as it once was. Ripple can generate revenue from its stablecoin, its banking services, and its developer tools without any direct impact on XRP's price. Conversely, XRP can rally on news that has nothing to do with Ripple, such as the Gensler departure or ETF listings. Retail investors tend to care more about XRP's price than about Ripple's corporate milestones, which explains why the company's best years have not translated into a higher token price.
The question now is whether Ripple's expanding business will eventually create enough demand for the XRP Ledger to lift the token, or whether the two will continue to diverge. For the moment, Ripple's corporate growth is on a clear upward trajectory, but XRP holders are still waiting for a catalyst that may not come from the company's own moves.
