Long-term holding is frequently promoted as an effective strategy for generating wealth in the cryptocurrency sector, yet this approach has not delivered positive results for every digital token.
Consider XRP (XRP), the payment-oriented cryptocurrency native to the XRP Ledger, which currently stands as the fifth-largest digital asset globally by market capitalization.
This token continues to trade significantly under its 2017 market cycle peak, whereas the vast majority of other prominent digital currencies have soared far past their historical highs. Back in 2017, the crypto industry entered the mainstream, drawing in fresh participants and backers during an intense market surge that extended into the initial weeks of 2018.
At present, XRP changes hands near $1.33, representing a 62.5% decline from its high of $3.55 recorded in early January 2018. Stated differently, someone who purchased XRP at that peak remains at a loss almost nine years later. (It is worth noting that XRP did temporarily surpass its previous record, touching $3.66 in July 2025 before experiencing a drop.)
Bitcoin BTC$80,955.28 has climbed 314% above its December 2017 peak of $19,804. Similarly, Dogecoin DOGE$0.08230 shows a 322% gain from its January 2018 high, and BNB BNB$730.03 has advanced approximately 2,800%. Ether ETH$2,444.96 registers a 66% increase, while zcash (ZEC) is up by 38%. Tron sits just below its former peak with a 4% loss, and Solana was introduced later in 2020.
Even though bitcoin, ether, and numerous alternative tokens have pulled back considerably from their 2025 highs, they still trade comfortably above their 2017 records.
Too many coins
Market experts point to XRP’s token supply as the primary factor.
Nansen senior research analyst Nicolai Sondergaard informed CoinDesk that the circulating supply expanded by 63%, moving from 38.7 billion in 2017 to 63.1 billion, whereas the aggregate market value of XRP dropped by roughly 3%. He explained that a higher volume of circulating XRP means each individual token accounts for a smaller fraction of a largely unchanged total valuation.
Circulating supply refers to the total amount of coins currently active on the open market, and as this figure expands, every single coin represents a reduced portion of the aggregate valuation.
Oliver Carding, marketing director at Tesseract Group, suggests that XRP presents a healthier picture when evaluated by its cumulative valuation instead of per-token pricing.
He noted that in terms of overall value, XRP has staged a recovery, pointing out that because roughly 63% more tokens are circulating now than during the prior peak, achieving the same total market capitalization mathematically translates to a price roughly 39% lower.
Tesseract operates as an institutional digital asset manager overseeing more than $500 million in client assets.
Weaker demand
Exchange-traded funds listed in the United States have created a pathway for institutional investors to gain direct exposure to digital assets. While investment funds tied to bitcoin and ether have pulled in billions of dollars, equivalent XRP products have fallen significantly behind.
Paul Howard, senior director at liquidity provider Wincent, remarked that ETF adoption has also remained subdued in comparison to BTC and ETH.
Data compiled by SoSoValue indicates that XRP investment vehicles have accumulated just $1.80 billion in total capital since launching nearly a year ago. By contrast, spot bitcoin ETFs frequently draw in over $1 billion within a single trading session.
Data from Nansen also highlights declining market activity, revealing that XRP spot trading volumes dropped by 53.5%, perpetual futures turnover contracted by 44%, and active wallet addresses fell by 10.7%.
Ripple’s focus
Ripple, the payments firm closely associated with XRP, has concentrated its efforts on cross-border remittance solutions rather than pursuing trendy market segments like decentralized finance, artificial intelligence, and memecoins, which have successfully captured larger capital inflows and tighter ties to traditional finance.
Howard explained that Ripple has dedicated significant energy toward establishing payment rails, RLUSD, and trade finance applications centered around the ledger and its native asset, which ultimately diverted attention away from the core XRP token itself.
Market participants also enjoy a broader array of investment alternatives today.
Howard noted that the growth of decentralized finance as a driver for investments into ETH, SOL, and HYPE represents a fresh narrative that XRP has simply not prioritized.
The SEC case
The prolonged legal battle between Ripple and American financial regulators also acted as a drag on XRP’s performance.
In December 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission initiated a lawsuit against Ripple alongside two corporate executives, alleging that the firm generated roughly $1.3 billion through unregistered sales of XRP securities.
A federal judge delivered a mixed verdict in 2023, determining that programmatic XRP transactions executed on public exchanges did not qualify as securities offerings, whereas direct sales to institutional buyers did. Subsequently, in 2024, the court mandated that Ripple pay a $125 million civil penalty. The litigation reached its conclusion in August 2025 after both parties mutually dismissed their pending appeals.
Carding noted that this extended period of regulatory friction helps clarify why the asset failed to breach its historical high during the 2021 cryptocurrency bull market, a period when Coinbase temporarily halted trading support.
Carding observed that the SEC lawsuit sheds light on why XRP missed its 2018 peak back in 2021 during the Coinbase suspension, yet pointed out that by the time appeals were withdrawn in August 2025, XRP was trading above $3. He added that since that juncture, XRP has declined by approximately 59%, compared to losses of 32% for bitcoin and 44% for ether, while its circulating market capitalization has shrunk by about 56%.
Not the only laggard
XRP is not an isolated example of a major asset remaining below its early 2018 records.
Carding pointed out that looking purely at price action, six out of the remaining nine cryptocurrencies that occupied the top ten spots in January 2018 sit even further away from those historical thresholds.
For market observers tracking XRP, Carding shared a specific metric to monitor.
He advised watching the performance of XRP relative to bitcoin, alongside net monthly token distribution figures following escrow releases and shifts in institutional fund balances. He cautioned that persistent relative weakness occurring even as token distribution slows would signal a clear contraction in buyer demand.
Stated plainly, Carding is tracking whether XRP continues to underperform bitcoin even though fewer new tokens are entering circulation via Ripple’s scheduled escrow unlocks. If supply expansion decelerates while XRP still trails bitcoin, it would point to a fading level of investor interest in the asset.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/10/16/xrp-has-failed-to-make-holders-rich-like-bitcoin-and-ether-here-s-why.
