Headline: XRP’s Breakout Year — Legal victory, $3.65 ATH, ETFs and a $1.3B stablecoin propel Ripple into 2025
Ripple’s 2025 was about far more than token price swings. While XRP hit fresh highs, the year’s biggest stories revolved around the long-running SEC battle finally ending, a wave of XRP ETFs, the rapid adoption of Ripple’s dollar stablecoin RLUSD, and a string of acquisitions and investments that re-shaped the company’s institutional footprint. Below is a concise look back at the milestones that defined XRP and Ripple this year.
Legal closure: a seven-year saga ends
- The SEC vs. Ripple dispute that began in December 2020 officially closed in August 2025. A partial ruling in Ripple’s favor in 2023 had set the tone, but appeals and counter-appeals extended the case into 2024–25.
- Early in 2025, following a change in U.S. regulatory posture, Ripple and the SEC negotiated a settlement attempt. After that proposed deal was rejected by a district judge and subsequent courts, both sides ultimately agreed to drop their remaining appeals, cementing the 2023 ruling as the standing precedent for XRP’s status.
Price action and ETF boom
- XRP surged to a new all-time high of $3.65 in July 2025, topping its 2018 peak of $3.40 (CoinGecko). That move briefly placed XRP as the third-largest crypto by market cap, behind Bitcoin and Ethereum.
- The rally cooled by year-end: XRP traded around $1.90 on December 15 — roughly 48% below the July high — leaving it the fourth-largest crypto by market cap at that time.
- Momentum toward altcoin ETFs accelerated in 2025. After generic ETF listing standards cleared the SEC’s path in September, multiple XRP ETF products launched. Rex Shares and Osprey Funds pushed an Act 40 XRP ETF to market and recorded roughly $38 million in day-one volume, the year’s biggest debut at that point.
- Traditional asset managers followed quickly: Canary Capital, Grayscale, Bitwise and Franklin Templeton brought spot XRP ETFs to market, and leveraged XRP products arrived in December. By December 15, spot XRP ETFs had accumulated nearly $1 billion in net inflows without a single day of outflows (CoinGlass).
RLUSD: a fast-growing, regulated dollar stablecoin
- RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar-backed stablecoin, launched in December 2024 and scaled rapidly through 2025 amid clearer U.S. stablecoin rules (the GENIUS Act) and broader market interest.
- Key integrations and approvals: RLUSD was added to Securitize’s BlackRock-backed tokenization platform in September (enabling exchanges with tokenized money market funds) and in December Ripple won expanded payment-service approval in Singapore.
- Partnerships included credit card settlement support via Mastercard and WebBank. RLUSD is regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services.
- Ripple pursued a National Bank Charter in July (following Circle’s lead) and received conditional approval in December along with other issuers.
- Market traction: RLUSD reached roughly $1.3 billion market cap within a year of launch, ranking it as the 11th-largest stablecoin (DefiLlama).
Strategic acquisitions and funding
- Ripple used M&A to broaden its institutional services: in April it acquired prime brokerage Hidden Road for $1.25 billion; in October it bought treasury asset manager GTreasury for $1 billion. It also purchased Toronto-based stablecoin platform Rail for $200 million and acquired wallet-as-a-service provider Palisade for an undisclosed sum.
- These deals aim to reduce frictions with legacy finance and expand Ripple’s payments and treasury capabilities.
- The corporate story drew investor capital: a $500 million funding round in November valued Ripple at $40 billion, underscoring confidence in its strategy beyond XRP alone.
Looking ahead
Ripple closed 2025 with regulatory clarity, significant product adoption, and a broader institutional playbook. XRP’s price volatility and market position reflected those shifts, but the company’s biggest wins were structural — regulatory precedent, ETF market access, RLUSD adoption, and a beefed-up services stack. As CEO Brad Garlinghouse put it on X, the investment and growth “isn’t just validation of Ripple’s growth strategy and business built on the foundation of XRP, but also a clear bet on what the future of crypto will look like.”
Sources cited in reporting: CoinGecko, CoinGlass, DefiLlama, and public statements from Ripple and its CEO.
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