Despite the recent downturn across digital assets, XRP continues to shine as one of the market’s strongest performers, maintaining an impressive 89% gain over the past year.
A wave of selling has dragged bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), and several major CoinDesk indices into muted or negative territory when measured over 365 days. XRP stands apart. While BTC and the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) Index each delivered only 3.6% returns, XRP surged far ahead with its standout 89% annual rise.
Only a handful of market segments posted gains at all. The CoinDesk 5 Index (CD5) climbed just above 2%, with ether barely adding around 2%. Major altcoins struggled significantly: solana (SOL) and cardano (ADA) each dropped more than 36%. The steepest decline came from the CoinDesk Meme Index, which tumbled 78% amid a deep pullback in speculative assets.
XRP’s strength extends into 2025 as well — it remains the only leading token showing a positive year-to-date return.
All of this comes even as XRP trades 36% below the record high above $3.60 set just four months ago. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, has also corrected sharply, falling 24% since reaching its peak above $126,000 in early October.
A mix of regulatory clarity, network developments, and institutional interest has fueled XRP’s outperformance. The conclusion of the SEC’s long-running lawsuit against Ripple removed one of the biggest uncertainties for the asset, opening the door for broader U.S. adoption and enabling more institutions to enter the market.
Ripple’s technology roadmap has also strengthened XRP’s position. The launch of the XRPL EVM sidechain and the rapid growth of RLUSD — Ripple’s stablecoin that surpassed a $1 billion market cap within a year of its December 2024 launch — have expanded XRP’s utility beyond payments and into decentralized finance.
Ripple’s expansion into key regions like the Middle East, along with its application for a U.S. banking license, has added further momentum. Last week’s debut of Canary Capital’s spot XRP ETF in the United States, which posted the highest first-day trading volume of any ETF this year, underscored the growing institutional appetite.
Industry leaders expect demand for XRP investment products to be strong. “It would be a massive product. There’s tremendous interest in XRP,” Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley said in an interview with CoinDesk TV. He noted that over $100 trillion still sits in traditional financial systems, with more capital gradually migrating on-chain. For many investors, ETFs offer the first accessible bridge into new digital assets. “Once investors can trade and gain exposure to XRP, it becomes a highly valuable product,” he added.
Still, XRP’s performance has been accompanied by heightened volatility. The asset’s 365-day annualized volatility sits at 91%, compared with 44% for bitcoin. Only cardano (100.55%) and the CoinDesk Meme Index (115.85%) rank higher.
Even so, analysts expect volatility to ease as institutional adoption grows and more XRP-linked ETFs come online, potentially anchoring the market with longer-term, more stable capital.
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