XRP sits 62.5% below its 2018 peak as bitcoin, ether stay far above 2017 highs
In brief
- XRP traded near $1.33, down 62.5% from its $3.55 January 2018 peak, per CoinDesk.
- Bitcoin stood 314% above its December 2017 peak of $19,804.
- Circulating XRP supply grew 63% while market value fell about 3%, Nansen data shows.
- XRP funds drew $1.80 billion in nearly a year, according to SoSoValue.
A supply story more than a value story
XRP didn't stay stuck the whole time. It briefly topped its old high, reaching $3.66 in July 2025, before crashing.
Nansen's Nicolai Sondergaard told CoinDesk that circulating supply grew 63% (from 38.7 billion in 2017 to 63.1 billion), while XRP's total market value fell only about 3%.
More XRP in circulation means each token represents a smaller share of roughly the same total value.
Oliver Carding of Tesseract Group, an institutional digital asset management firm with over $500 million in assets under management, made the same point in price terms. With about 63% more XRP in circulation, he said, the same circulating market cap would mean a price roughly 39% lower.
Thin ETF demand and weaker activity
Paul Howard, senior director at market maker Wincent, said XRP ETF uptake has been muted relative to BTC and ETH. The numbers back him up: XRP funds have pulled in $1.80 billion in the nearly one year since they debuted, according to SoSoValue, while bitcoin ETFs often draw more than $1 billion in a single day.
On-chain activity hasn't helped. Nansen data cited by CoinDesk shows XRP spot volume down 53.5%, perpetual futures volume down 44% and active addresses down 10.7%.
Ripple has focused on cross-border payments rather than chasing sectors like defi, AI and memecoins. Howard said Ripple's work on payment infrastructure, RLUSD and trade financing products has taken focus away from core XRP.
Other majors, and the SEC overhang
How did some of the other big names do? Per CoinDesk's figures, dogecoin was up 322% from its January 2018 high and BNB was up about 2,800%, while ether gained 66% and zcash 38% against their 2017-cycle highs. Bitcoin, ether and many other tokens pulled back sharply from their 2025 peaks but stayed far above those 2017 levels. Solana launched in 2020, so it has no 2017 peak to compare.
Tron was also slightly below its peak, down about 4%.
Carding framed the comparison differently. On value, he said, XRP recovered (it's the per-token price that's lagging, because there's so much more XRP in circulation).
The SEC sued Ripple and two of its executives in December 2020, alleging the company raised about $1.3 billion by selling XRP without registering it as a security. A federal judge ruled in 2023 that XRP sales on public exchanges weren't securities offerings, but that sales to institutional investors were. Ripple was ordered in 2024 to pay a $125 million penalty, and the case ended in August 2025 when both sides dropped their appeals. Carding said that prolonged regulatory uncertainty helps explain XRP's performance.
Frequently asked questions
Why is XRP's price below its 2018 peak when its market value barely fell?
Nansen's Nicolai Sondergaard said XRP's circulating supply grew 63%, from 38.7 billion in 2017 to 63.1 billion, while total market value fell only about 3%. Tesseract Group's Oliver Carding said that with about 63% more XRP in circulation, the same circulating market cap would mean a price roughly 39% lower.
How have XRP ETFs performed compared with bitcoin ETFs?
XRP funds pulled in $1.80 billion of investor money in the nearly one year since they debuted, according to SoSoValue. Bitcoin ETFs often drew more than $1 billion in a single day. Wincent's Paul Howard said XRP ETF uptake was muted compared with BTC and ETH.
How did the SEC case against Ripple end?
The SEC sued Ripple and two executives in December 2020, alleging about $1.3 billion in unregistered XRP sales. A federal judge ruled in 2023 that public exchange sales weren't securities offerings but institutional sales were. Ripple was ordered in 2024 to pay a $125 million penalty, and the case ended in August 2025 when both sides dropped their appeals.
