The XRP price slid 5% on Wednesday as a wider market pullback dragged most major tokens lower, knocking the altcoin back to roughly $1.43. Experts point to the same recurring forces behind the swing: persistent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and a shortage of fresh, bullish catalysts.
Despite the near-term weakness, market observers remain upbeat about XRP’s longer-term prospects, centering their optimism on an anticipated policy development in Washington.
Potential Surge In Adoption And ETF InflowsThat legal status would place XRP on a regulatory footing similar to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) and, according to proponents, remove a major barrier to large-scale adoption by banks, asset managers, and payment providers.
He noted that commodity designation would allow US banks to use XRP for cross-border settlement via Ripple’s payment rails without the looming uncertainty that a regulatory reclassification might later introduce.
XRP Price Targets LiftedConsensus among many analysts places the XRP price between $5 and $10 should the legislation clear Congress, with an $8 price implying a market capitalization near $490 billion — a level Daodu argues is plausible if banks adopt XRP for actual payment use rather than the token remaining a retail trading vehicle.
The CLARITY Act passed the House in July 2025 by a 294–134 vote and moved through the Senate Agriculture Committee on January 29. However, the Senate Banking Committee has yet to schedule a new markup since January, and negotiators have not published a reconciled draft that satisfies both crypto and banking stakeholders.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
