War, What Is It Good For? Apparently Not XRP: A 25% Slump While the Rest of Crypto Rallies

XRP has been through a rough start to 2026, dropping nearly 25% since January. The token hit a low of $1.16 in early February, briefly recovered to $1.60 in mid-March, and now hovers around the $1.40 mark. Ouch.

Here's the thing: practically every other asset class has felt the impact of the Iran war, but crypto's response has been... weird. The S&P 500 is down 4.9% over the past month, yet Bitcoin surged 8.3% and Ethereum popped 14.4%. Hyperliquid absolutely dominated with a 48% gain, becoming the go-to platform for weekend oil price speculation when traditional markets sleep. Meanwhile, XRP? A measly 1.8% bump in the same timeframe. That's not a rally—that's a participation trophy.

Since the conflict kicked off on February 28, XRP has ranged between $1.32 and $1.60, spending most of its time stuck in a boring $1.35 to $1.45 band. No trend. No momentum. Just chop. It's the financial equivalent of watching paint dry while your degens are making 50x on some random memecoin named after a Middle Eastern dictator.

When President Trump suggested de-escalation on Monday, Bitcoin immediately jumped from $68,500 to $71,500 in hours. XRP likely blinked. Probably checked its calendar, realized it had nothing scheduled, and went back to staring at the wall.

Looking ahead, CoinCodex's algo predicts XRP hitting $1.68 in June (a 19% bump) and potentially $2.21 by October (56% gain). Still won't touch its $3.92 ATH. So basically, even in the best case scenario, XRP remains the tired uncle at the family reunion who insists on telling you about the time he almost went to MIT.

On the fundamental side, Ripple's been busy: piloting its RLUSD stablecoin for trade finance in Singapore's Monetary Authority sandbox, leadership jetting between Dublin, London, Singapore, and Sydney, Evernorth pushing forward with an XRP treasury SPAC despite the broader crypto treasury slump, and expanding into Brazil with payments, custody, and treasury services while chasing an Australian Financial Services License. All noise, no price action. Classic Ripple.

The war headlines will keep moving the big caps. But XRP? It's not trending anywhere. Maybe next cycle.