Ripple is heading for its best year ever while XRP faces its worst since 2022

Ripple is expecting its strongest business year on record even as XRP heads toward its worst annual performance since 2022.

The blockchain company said on Oct. 28 that it is on track to exit 2026 with a record $900 million annualized product revenue run rate, supported by expanding institutional partnerships and growing demand for its financial infrastructure.

Ripple President Monica Long celebrated the development, describing the company's performance as its strongest on record.

Long said this is Ripple's "best year ever," highlighting the approaching $900 million annualized product revenue milestone and the adoption of Ripple's infrastructure by major financial institutions.

However, XRP has fallen nearly 30% this year and more than 50% over the past 12 months, highlighting a widening gap between Ripple's commercial success and the market performance of its closely associated cryptocurrency.

Ripple's acquisitions and customer growth fuel record year

In its Oct. 28 announcement, Ripple described 2026 as its strongest year on record, citing organic growth and the integration of businesses acquired during its expansion into financial services.

Last year, the company spent more than $2.4 billion on acquisitions, including prime brokerage firm Hidden Road (now Ripple Prime) for $1.25 billion, treasury management provider GTreasury for $1 billion, and stablecoin payments platform Rail for $200 million.

The deals expanded Ripple's operations beyond cross-border payments into institutional trading, financing, clearing and corporate cash management.

CEO Brad Garlinghouse said Ripple's strategy is to bring financial services traditionally offered by separate providers onto integrated infrastructure, using blockchain technology and digital assets such as XRP.

Garlinghouse said:

"Ripple is bringing all of that together, with our partners, to enable the Internet of Value."

The strategy is taking shape across the company's businesses. Ripple said its products, including Ripple Prime and Ripple Treasury, enabled more than $16 trillion in transactions in 2025, reflecting activity across its expanded financial services portfolio.

The number of customers and partners using multiple Ripple products has also tripled this year, with more than 1,700 institutions and businesses now using its infrastructure. Major customers and partners include Standard Chartered, DBS, HSBC, Robinhood and BNY.

Ripple's payments network is also approaching $150 billion in cumulative transaction volume, while its RLUSD stablecoin has grown more than 88% this year to a market capitalization of $2.6 billion.

The company has also expanded its regulatory footprint, securing more than 85 licenses across its operations.

Its latest milestone came on Oct. 26, when the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank, authorizing the federally supervised institution to manage RLUSD reserves and provide fiduciary digital asset custody services.

Together, these developments have expanded Ripple's revenue opportunities across traditional and digital finance, allowing it to offer institutional clients a broader range of payments, trading, financing, and treasury services.

XRP heads for worst year since 2022

Despite Ripple's record year, XRP is heading toward its steepest annual decline since 2022, amid a broader downturn in cryptocurrency markets.

CryptoRank data shows the token has lost 28.8% of its value in 2026, extending last year's 11.6% decline.

The losses follow a period of strong performance, with XRP gaining 82.5% in 2023 and 235.7% in 2024. However, that momentum has faded this year, with the cryptocurrency falling from a high of $2.40 to below $1 in August before recovering to around $1.31 as of press time. XRP annual price change, 2018--2026

Annual percentage change in XRP price (USD), using CryptoRank figures from a screenshot provided Oct. 28, 2026. The 2026 value is year-to-date, not a full calendar-year return. Source figures are rounded; other providers differ for some years.{#cs-chart-1-description}

Retry chart View the data table below.
Chart by CryptoSlate
Source: CryptoRank XRP analytics (screenshot supplied Oct. 28, 2026) View dataHide data

| Category | XRP annual return | | 2018 | -84.5% | | 2019 | -47.1% | | 2020 | 18.2% | | 2021 | 276.2% | | 2022 | -59.2% | | 2023 | 82.5% | | 2024 | 235.7% | | 2025 | -11.6% |

The weakness has coincided with a difficult year for the broader cryptocurrency market, led by Bitcoin's sharp retreat from its October 2025 record high of approximately $126,000.

At one point this year, Bitcoin plunged below $60,000, wiping out more than half its value from that peak as macroeconomic uncertainty, elevated interest rates and weakening investor demand weighed on digital assets.

Although the world's largest cryptocurrency has since recovered above $80,000, it remains roughly 36% below its record high and has lost approximately 8% this year.

Other major cryptocurrencies have suffered similar setbacks, with Ethereum declining about 20% and Solana shedding 17% year to date.

The downturn has left XRP facing another difficult year, despite Bitcoin's recovery and Ripple's growing commercial footprint.

If its losses persist through December, XRP would record its worst annual performance since its 59.2% plunge in 2022. It would also mark the cryptocurrency's first consecutive losing years since 2018 and 2019, when it declined 84.5% and 47.1%, respectively.

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