The broader cryptocurrency market is experiencing a significant downtrend primarily due to the macroeconomic headwinds and geopolitical tensions, such as the US-EU tariff threats. Prominent cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH saw sharp declines on Wednesday, recording intraday losses of 1.67% and 9.87%, respectively. XRP, the fifth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, on the other hand, dropped above 3% and currently trades below the $2.00 psychological level. XRP is trading at $1.91 with a 24-hour trading volume of $ 3.57 billion and a market cap of $ 116.59 billion.
XRP’s prolonged bearish momentum is fueled by technical weakness, widespread altcoin liquidations, and intensified whale activity. On Wednesday, XRP broke the $2.00–$1.90 support zone and traded below the 50-Day Simple Moving Average (SMA) ($ 2.01) and 200-Day Simple Moving Average ($ 2.52). The broader altcoin decline also catalyzed XRP price decay. According to the latest data, the altcoin market nearly fell 4% ($50B) in 24h, with XRP underperforming prominent altcoins like Ethereum and Solana. Whales have reportedly sold around 500 million XRP worth of around $1 billion last week, further intensifying the XRP downtrend.
Monica Long, Ripple’s President, Says The Industry Is Entering Its “Production Era.” In 2026
Despite the extended bearish trend of XRP and its weakened performance in the broader cryptocurrency market, Monica Long, Ripple’s President, shared some optimistic thoughts about the upcoming changes in the industry. She also made some notable predictions for this year, triggering enthusiasm and a positive outlook in the crypto landscape.
Monica Long wrote on her X handle that after one of crypto’s most exciting years, including a strong year for Ripple, the industry was entering its production era. She said that 2026 would mark the institutionalization of crypto, with trusted infrastructure and real utility driving banks, corporates, and service providers to move from pilot projects to full-scale adoption across stablecoins, on-chain assets, crypto custody, and broader institutional investment. She added that this shift would represent a true inflection point for institutional adoption and the development of the Internet of Value.
Her opinion sparked a positive impact on the sector and made holders believe that crypto is no longer just testing ideas; instead, it is now being used in real business operations. According to her opinion, financial institutions, including Banks and large companies, are now starting to trust and use crypto infrastructure. She also believes that 2026 could be a turning point for mass institutional adoption.
Stablecoins, Tokenized Assets Set to Reshape Finance by 2026
She also opined about the revolutionary changes that can be expected in stablecoins, tokenized assets, and the on‑chain settlement sector. She forecasted that stablecoins would become the foundation for global settlement rather than an alternative payment rail, as companies such as Visa, Stripe, and other major institutions increasingly integrate them directly into payment flows. She said B2B use cases would act as the primary growth engine, with corporates using digital dollars to achieve real-time liquidity and greater capital efficiency. She added that crypto was no longer purely speculative and was instead evolving into the operating layer of modern finance.
She further projected that by 2026, around 50% of Fortune 500 companies would have crypto exposure or formalized digital asset treasury strategies, actively holding tokenized assets, on-chain Treasury bills, stablecoins, and programmable financial instruments. She also noted that institutional access was expanding through capital markets, with crypto ETFs accelerating exposure but still representing only a small portion of the overall market, leaving significant room for growth. Finally, she said that as adoption scales, collateral mobility would emerge as a major use case, with an estimated 5–10% of capital markets settlement moving on-chain.
