XRP Price Tracker (XRP) & Whale Tracker

What is XRP

XRP is the native asset of the XRP Ledger, a payments-focused blockchain that went live in 2012, making it one of the oldest networks still in use. It was designed by David Schwartz, Jed McCaleb and Arthur Britto to settle transfers in seconds for a fraction of a cent, without mining. Ripple, the company Chris Larsen and McCaleb founded the same year, builds products on the ledger and holds a large share of the token, but does not control the network.

XRP is used as a bridge asset: a bank or payment company can convert dollars to XRP, send it across the world in a few seconds and convert it to pesos or pounds at the other end, avoiding pre-funded accounts in each country. It is also simply traded and held, and for years it ranked among the three or four largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. The live price, market cap and supply at the top of this page refresh automatically.

The distinction between Ripple the company and XRP the asset matters, because the long US lawsuit against Ripple turned on it.

How the XRP Ledger works

The ledger does not use proof of work or proof of stake. Each server keeps a list of validators it trusts, called a Unique Node List, and every few seconds those validators agree on the next set of transactions through rounds of proposals. If at least 80 percent of a server's trusted validators agree, the ledger closes and transactions are final, typically within three to five seconds. Ripple runs a minority of the validators on the default list; universities, exchanges and independent operators run the rest.

Every transaction destroys a tiny amount of XRP, around a hundred-thousandth of a coin, as an anti-spam fee, so the supply falls very slowly over time. The ledger has a built-in decentralised exchange with order books, support for issued tokens and stablecoins, payment channels, escrows and, since 2024, an automated market maker. In 2025 an Ethereum-compatible sidechain launched so Solidity developers can build alongside the main ledger.

Accounts need a small reserve of XRP to exist, which prevents spam but also means a wallet cannot be fully emptied.

Supply and tokenomics

All 100 billion XRP were created when the ledger launched in 2012; nothing is mined or issued since. The founders gave 80 billion to Ripple and kept the rest. In December 2017 Ripple locked 55 billion of its holdings into on-ledger escrow contracts that release up to one billion XRP a month, with whatever the company does not sell returned to new escrows. Ripple publishes quarterly reports on its sales and holdings.

The escrow schedule means a known amount can reach the market each month, and Ripple's sales to institutions are the main source of supply. Transaction burns remove a negligible amount by comparison. The circulating supply shown above excludes the XRP still locked in escrow.

History and milestones

XRP rose to its first all-time high above three dollars in January 2018, briefly making it the second-largest crypto asset. Ripple signed banks and remittance firms to its payment products through the following years, with the On-Demand Liquidity service using XRP as the bridge currency in corridors such as Mexico and the Philippines.

In December 2020 the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Ripple, alleging XRP was an unregistered security. Exchanges delisted the token in the United States and the price fell sharply. In July 2023 a federal judge ruled that XRP sold on exchanges was not a security, while Ripple's direct institutional sales were, and in August 2024 the court imposed a 125 million dollar penalty. The case ended in 2025 after both sides dropped their appeals. Ripple launched the RLUSD stablecoin in December 2024, acquired the prime broker Hidden Road in 2025, and US spot XRP exchange-traded funds began trading in late 2025, with the price reaching a new high above three dollars earlier that year.

What people use XRP for

Cross-border settlement is the original use. Ripple Payments moves money for financial institutions in dozens of countries, using XRP to bridge currency pairs where correspondent banking is slow or expensive. The volumes are real but small relative to global payments, and much of Ripple's banking business uses its messaging software without XRP at all.

The second use is the ledger's own economy: tokenised assets, the RLUSD stablecoin, the on-ledger exchange and a growing set of real-world asset projects that chose the XRP Ledger for its low fees and long track record. For most holders, XRP is simply a liquid, widely listed asset with a large retail following.

Where to buy and trade XRP

XRP is listed on Coinbase, Binance, Kraken, OKX, Bybit, Bitstamp, Upbit and virtually every other exchange, with some of the deepest order books in crypto, especially against the Korean won and the dollar. Spot ETFs in the United States and exchange-traded products in Europe and Canada let brokerage accounts hold it.

For self-custody, Xaman (formerly Xumm) is the standard XRP Ledger wallet, and Ledger and Trezor hardware devices support it. Remember the account reserve: a new wallet needs a small XRP deposit to activate, and most exchanges require a destination tag on deposits, which you must include or the funds can be lost.

Risks to understand

Ripple's large holdings and monthly escrow releases are a permanent supply overhang, and the company's business decisions shape sentiment more than on-ledger activity does. Adoption by banks has been slower than the early narrative promised, and competitors such as stablecoins on fast chains now serve the same cross-border use case.

XRP spent years below its 2018 high and is volatile around regulatory and legal news. Destination-tag mistakes and phishing sites targeting the large retail community are common. This guide is a reference for the data above, not investment advice.

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