Key takeaways
- XRP has lost nearly 30% during 2026
- Ripple Prime joins Wall Street tokenization discussions
- Institutional partnerships do not guarantee greater XRP demand
Ripple is gaining access to some of Wall Street's biggest financial institutions, but XRP investors have experienced a very different year.
The cryptocurrency had fallen approximately 28.8% in 2026 as of October 23.. By October 24, XRP was trading near $1.29, extending its year-to-date decline to approximately 30%, compared with its opening price of roughly $1.84.
The weakness comes despite Ripple expanding its presence in institutional finance, including a newly highlighted role alongside BlackRock, JPMorgan and other major firms in a securities-tokenization initiative.
Ripple Prime Joins Wall Street's Tokenization Push
Ripple Prime is among more than 50 companies participating in the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation's initiative to bring traditional securities onto blockchain infrastructure.
According to DTCC's official announcement, the working group includes BlackRock, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Robinhood and Ripple Prime.
The project aims to allow eligible securities to be represented digitally while preserving their existing ownership rights and investor protections.
However, Ripple's involvement does not mean DTCC has selected XRP or the XRP Ledger for settlement.
DTCC's initial production tokenization trades in July used other blockchain infrastructure, and no XRP-based settlement commitment has been announced.
Coinpaper previously examined the DTCC collaboration, highlighting the gap between Ripple's participation and confirmed XRP utility.
Meanwhile, Ripple Prime has expanded its derivatives business. Its October 15 announcement introduced access to perpetual swaps referencing more than 100 markets, including equities, metals and foreign currencies.
Those contracts reference markets on Hyperliquid rather than the XRP Ledger.
Ripple's Partnerships Expand Beyond XRP Trading
The contrast extends beyond Wall Street.
On October 14, Ripple announced a partnership with South Korea's Meritz Securities to explore institutional custody and tokenized financial assets.
The agreement became Ripple's fourth institutional partnership in South Korea during 2026, following arrangements involving banking and insurance companies.
Coinpaper covered the Meritz agreement, although the companies have not announced specific XRP purchase commitments.
Ripple also recently partnered with DriveWealth to modernize international brokerage funding using stablecoins, payments and custody infrastructure.
That DriveWealth partnership could extend Ripple's financial infrastructure into a network serving more than 100 institutional partners, but actual customer adoption remains undisclosed.
In Brazil, meanwhile, CSD BR has begun using the XRP Ledger to mirror records of investment fund ownership.
The Brazilian deployment represents a confirmed blockchain use case, although existing regulated systems remain the authoritative securities records.
Why Isn't XRP Rising With Ripple's Business?
The answer partly lies in the distinction between Ripple's commercial success and the economics of XRP.
Ripple can generate revenue through custody, brokerage, payment processing and software infrastructure without every customer purchasing substantial amounts of XRP.
Even transactions conducted on XRPL do not necessarily produce meaningful token demand, because XRP network fees are relatively small.
Meanwhile, market pressures have intensified.
Coinpaper reported that approximately 6.05 billion XRP moved onto exchanges over a recent 30-day period, although deposits do not prove completed sales.
Institutional investment has also weakened. XRP ETFs recently ended a 13-week inflow streak, following a period when fund demand slowed despite substantial cumulative investment.
For XRP holders, Ripple's expanding institutional relationships remain relevant, but the next question is whether those relationships create measurable demand for the cryptocurrency itself.
Until that connection becomes clearer, Ripple's growing business and XRP's market performance may continue moving in different directions.
