XRP Built Rock-Solid Foundations in 2025 – Could 2026 Be the Year It Hits $5?

XRP enters 2026 on a war footing. Last year wasn't about moon shots; it was about pouring concrete. The network's infrastructure hardened, regulatory clarity inched forward, and institutional pipelines filled. Now, the market holds its breath.

The $5 Question

Five dollars isn't just a number—it's a psychological battleground. Hitting it would mean a market cap surge that makes traditional finance bankers spill their overpriced lattes. The path relies on a brutal cocktail: sustained adoption in cross-border settlements, a final all-clear from lingering legal skirmishes, and a crypto bull run that doesn't fizzle.

Foundations vs. Friction

The 2025 playbook was pragmatic. Partnerships expanded beyond press releases into live corridors. Liquidity deepened. The tech stack proved it can handle the boring, billion-dollar work of moving value—which is ironically where the real excitement lies. Yet, friction remains. Macro winds could chill all digital assets, and competitors aren't sleeping.

Betting on the Boring Revolution

Forget flashy memes. XRP's thesis is grindingly unsexy: becoming the plumbing for global finance. If that plumbing gets adopted at scale in 2026, the $5 speculation shifts from Twitter hype to spreadsheet reality. It's a bet on efficiency finally trumping legacy system inertia—and on Wall Street realizing that sometimes the best trade is on the infrastructure, not just the asset.

The closer? Either XRP validates its foundational grind with a landmark price breakout, or it becomes a case study in how solid tech can still get stuck in the mud of market sentiment and regulatory theater. The foundations are laid. Now we see if the market builds on them—or just walks right past.

On-Chain Data Reveals XRP Activity Drop

Though legal and ETF front action made headlines, it seems that on-chain action told another story altogether. There has been relatively little action on the token Ledger recently. Daily active addresses were always below 45,000, and only reached 38,500 on December 18.

The downturn from the peak that was recorded in March 2025, when the number of active addresses surpassed 600,000. Moreover, the precipitous drop indicates decreased interaction on the network, which further contributes to concerns about levels of interest despite higher prices.

Since it attained its all-time highest point in 2018, it lost over 90% of its total value in a span of one year. This actually transpired without any legal proceedings from the regulator.

Already, token is down by more than 40% from its high above $3.66, it WOULD be a tough test to reach $5 by 2026.

XRP Bullish Outlook Still Exists for 2026

However, some analysts are still quite optimistic about the possibility of XRP recording a large price movement in the year 2026. Chad Steingraber is one of the more positive forecasters, who predicts a price rise for XRP from the current $2 to $10 in the year to come.

With 2026 just around the corner, XRP finds itself at a crossroads. While the groundwork laid in 2025 has been important, it has yet to be reflected in its pricing action, and it remains to be seen whether it will experience another correction or breakout.