XRP Defends $1.34 Like It's the Last Parking Spot at a Crypto Conference

U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for March dropped at week's end, giving investors something resembling certainty to gnaw on. Despite inflation acting like an uninvited houseguest who refuses to leave, the digital asset sector — $XRP included, serving as both retail favorite and institutional darling — responded with cautious optimism. Nobody's popping champagne, but at least the knives aren't out.

The market, being the chronically online creature it is, ignored the headline figure entirely and focused on Core CPI, which printed at +0.2% versus the expected +0.3%. This is the Fed's pet metric, the one it actually cares about when making rate calls, and its cooler-than-expected reading gave institutional nerves a much-needed vacation.

$XRP price chart, Source: CoinMarketCap

Immediately after the data dropped, $XRP did that thing where it bounces around $1.3475 like a checkout line at Trader Joe's — testing,