XRP Network Growth Hits New Milestone

Messari's latest State of $XRP report for Q1 2026 paints a clear picture of divergence on the XRP Ledger: token price slipped, but network fundamentals moved sharply higher.

On-Chain Activity Surges Despite Price Weakness

According to the report, average daily transactions on XRPL rose 35.3% quarter-over-quarter, climbing from 1.83 million to 2.48 million. That expansion came even as XRP's price fell 27.1% over the same period to close Q1 at $1.34, with its market cap declining 26.3% to $82.21 billion.

Messari noted that XRPL's broader feature set, covering payments, token issuance, decentralised liquidity, real-world assets, and stablecoins, continued to drive usage independent of price performance.

RLUSD and Tokenized Assets Lead Institutional Growth

Ripple's $RLUSD stablecoin posted particularly strong numbers. RLUSD closed Q1 with a $340.3 million market cap on XRPL, up 44.9% quarter-over-quarter, making it the network's largest stablecoin. The report also noted that RLUSD had more individual holders on XRPL than on Ethereum by the quarter's end, though Ethereum still handled larger transfer volume overall.

Tokenized real-world assets were the standout category. XRPL closed the quarter with an all-time high RWA market cap of $2.25 billion, positioning the network as the seventh-largest by RWA market cap at quarter-end, a ranking that has since improved to fourth at the time of the report's publication.

On the infrastructure side, Messari highlighted new institutional-grade tooling that went live during Q1, including Permissioned Domains, a Permissioned DEX, and Token Escrow. Native lending and asset vault features remain under network voting.

U.S. spot XRP ETFs also contributed to institutional demand, with combined holdings reaching 775.4 million XRP, or roughly 1.26% of circulating supply, by the end of the quarter.

Messari noted the report was commissioned by Ripple, while retaining its own editorial control.

Sources:
crypto.news: XRP Ledger activity jumps 35% despite XRP price slump, Messari report
Bitcoin.com News: XRP Slips Below BNB in Q1 2026 Rankings, but New Institutional Data Flashes Bullish Signals