XRP Drops 14% Weekly as Whale Selling, US Regulatory Uncertainty Weigh

Ripple’s XRP token slid sharply over the past week, with selling by large holders colliding with renewed U.S. regulatory uncertainty to weigh on sentiment. The pullback comes even as Ripple continues to expand partnerships tied to its dollar-pegged stablecoin RLUSD and steps up policy engagement in Washington—creating a tug-of-war between near-term price pressure and longer-term adoption narratives.

As of 9:00 p.m. UTC on June 5, XRP was trading at $1.1172, down 4.92% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. The token is down about 14% over seven days and 21.58% over the past month. XRP’s market capitalization stood near $69.2 billion, representing roughly 3.27% of the total crypto market.

Technically, XRP has retreated from a recent $1.60 peak to a low around $1.09, breaking below the $1.11 area that previously acted as support earlier this year. Buyers appeared to step in briefly near $1.13, but momentum remains fragile as traders debate whether the move is a routine correction or the start of a more sustained downtrend.

Some market watchers point to the token’s distance from its yearly volume-weighted average price, or ‘VWAP’—a metric that reflects the average traded price weighted by volume—as a potential catalyst for a mean-reversion bounce. XRP is currently trading well below an annual VWAP band cited around $1.53 to $1.54, and past market structure has sometimes seen prices gravitate back toward that region. Still, analysts caution that ‘technical’ signals can break down in risk-off environments, particularly when macro sentiment and headline risk dominate.

Trading activity remains heavily concentrated on centralized venues. XRP’s 24-hour trading volume was about $4.09 billion, with roughly $4.006 billion attributed to centralized exchanges and only around $3.42 million routed through decentralized exchanges. The token’s fully diluted valuation was estimated near $111.7 billion—about 1.6 times its circulating market cap—while the circulating supply represents roughly 62% of total issuance, a factor some investors track for longer-term dilution dynamics.

A major driver of the selloff, according to CryptoPotato, has been heightened distribution from ‘whale’ wallets. The outlet estimated that around 50 million XRP were sold or moved from large addresses over the past week, a flow that can amplify volatility by spooking retail participants and triggering cascading liquidations or panic selling. Broader market weakness has reinforced the move, with declines in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) reducing risk appetite across large-cap altcoins.

Despite the price slump, Ripple has continued to push its commercial expansion—particularly around RLUSD and cross-border payment rails. The company recently announced partnerships with Turkish crypto platforms BiLira, Bitexen, and Bitlo, aimed at widening distribution and use cases for RLUSD. Ripple has framed the stablecoin as a complementary component to its broader payments infrastructure, with ecosystem growth potentially feeding back into demand and liquidity conditions around XRP-related services.

In parallel, Mastercard ($MA) has expanded settlement options across its payments infrastructure, enabling merchants to settle in multiple cryptocurrencies including RLUSD. Industry participants view the integration as a meaningful step toward ‘institutional’ usability, even if the immediate impact on on-chain activity and token demand remains difficult to quantify. Ripple has also expanded its Washington, D.C. office as it seeks greater influence in U.S. policy discussions—an effort that has taken on heightened importance amid shifting regulatory expectations.

The key variable now is legislation. Market attention has increasingly centered on the CLARITY Act, a U.S. bill designed to clarify regulatory jurisdiction between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and to define legal categories for digital assets. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has highlighted the bill’s potential significance for the industry, with investors assessing whether a clearer framework could reduce the ‘regulatory overhang’ that has periodically pressured XRP.

For traders, the immediate focus remains whether XRP can defend the $1.09–$1.11 region and stabilize after the breakdown. For longer-horizon investors, the more consequential question is whether Ripple’s expanding RLUSD distribution, payment-network integrations, and policy strategy can translate into durable usage—especially if U.S. lawmaking reduces uncertainty around how tokens like XRP are classified and overseen.

In the near term, XRP appears caught between a risk-off tape and large-holder selling, while the market waits for clearer signals from Washington and measurable traction from RLUSD-related partnerships. That gap between short-term volatility and longer-term fundamentals is likely to remain the central tension shaping XRP’s outlook.