Why is XRP down 40% while Ripple is signing major banks?

Because the value Ripple's enterprise business creates accrues to Ripple, the company, not automatically to the XRP token. The token captures value only when ledger utility drives spot demand that exceeds supply. That equation has not yet flipped in 2026, and several of Ripple's institutional products explicitly use RLUSD rather than XRP for settlement.

What is the $1.40 options pin and why does it matter?

A single block trader on Deribit sold 1.5 million XRP call and put contracts at the $1.40 strike, collecting $224,500 in premium. The trade profits if XRP closes near $1.40 at the June 26 expiry, creating a gravitational pull around that level. It signals that at least one sophisticated desk thinks the disconnect holds through midsummer.

Is the on-chain picture actually bullish?

It's constructive but not yet decisive. Exchange reserves at 2.55 billion tokens are the lowest of the cycle, ledger payments hit 500,000 in 24 hours, and tokenized RWA exposure on XRPL is around $3.6 billion. None of that translates to spot demand for the XRP token until a catalyst forces the conversion.

What would invalidate the bear case?

A reclaim of $1.35 with a higher low on the next test. The cleanest bullish trigger is a daily close above $1.41 with volume, which would force the options pin to unwind and open a path toward $1.50 and $1.80.

XRP: The Strangest Disconnect in Crypto Right Now

On-chain flows

This is where the picture gets more interesting. Exchange reserves have bottomed near 2.55 billion XRP, the lowest level of the cycle, suggesting that holders aren't moving tokens to venues to sell. The XRP Ledger added 500,000 payments in 24 hours on Wednesday, per U.Today, and ledger activity has surged roughly 300% on catalysts that haven't been fully explained. The $100.3 million transfer between unknown wallets earlier in the session was visible but didn't hit exchange addresses.

The XRPL is also accruing real-world asset exposure that doesn't show up in the spot price. The ledger holds roughly $3.6 billion in tokenized RWAs excluding stablecoins, with tokenized energy commodities a growing share of that base. Ripple's CTO Emeritus David Schwartz lent rare support to the FUZZY meme coin built on XRPL this week, the kind of cultural footnote that signals on-ledger activity is broadening beyond the institutional pitch. None of that is bearish. It just doesn't currently express in the XRP token, which is the disconnect at the center of every piece written about this name in 2026.

XRP changed hands at $1.37 on Wednesday, down more than 40% year-to-date, even as Ripple closed roughly ten institutional deals in 2026 with names that include Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, and Mastercard. The gap between the company's business momentum and the token's price is the cleanest case study in crypto right now of what happens when narrative and float don't intersect. A single block trade on Deribit is now betting the disconnect holds through June.

By Rahul Mehta· AI-assisted· Altcoins & DeFi

Market context

XRP is trading at $1.37 as the final week of May begins, per CryptoPotato's technical desk, after a brief reclaim of the 100-day moving average failed to hold. The token printed a lower high against BTC on the same window, the kind of structural read that usually keeps swing desks on the sidelines. The 24-hour tape has been quiet: a single $100.3 million wallet-to-wallet transfer flagged by U.Today drew attention precisely because nothing else was moving the needle.

The context that matters is the wider one. Crypto.News reported Wednesday that Ripple has closed roughly ten major institutional deals this year, signing Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, and Mastercard among them. Ripple's Treasury platform now claims 13,000 bank connections and $12.5 trillion in payments visibility. Standard Chartered has an $8 price target out to 2026. Across the same stretch, the token is down more than 40%. That is not a story about whether Ripple's business is working. It's a story about whether any of that business touches the XRP float.

Technical setup

The chart is doing exactly what you'd expect a coiled, capped asset to do. Resistance sits at the $1.41 wall, a level that has now rejected price twice this month including the latest test at the 100-day MA. Support is layered between $1.30 and $1.20, with the lower bound being the line that defined the early-May washout. Above resistance, the next structural level is $1.50, then a gap up toward $1.80 where the prior consolidation lived.

Momentum indicators are stalling rather than rolling. RSI on the daily sits in a neutral 45 to 55 band, MACD is flat, and the Bollinger Bands have compressed to one of their tightest readings of the year, per the U.Today morning roundup citing technical work that signals no rally before summer. Tight bands resolve. They don't tell you which way.

On-chain flows

XRP: The Strangest Disconnect in Crypto Right Now

Market context

Technical setup

On-chain flows

Sentiment

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Risks

Disclaimer

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