XRP Price: Best August in Five Years, Record On-Chain Activity — What’s Next?

07-Sep-2026 CoinCentral

TLDR

  • Ripple released 1 billion XRP worth ~$1.38 billion from escrow on September 1, 2026, with locked supply now at 31.28 billion tokens.
  • XRP rallied 28.5% in August, its best August since 2021, hitting $1.70 before settling near $1.42.
  • XRP Ledger payment volume spiked 521% in a single week in late August, driven by large institutional transfers.
  • Spot XRP ETFs pulled in $153.55 million in August, with most inflows arriving in the final two weeks.
  • RLUSD, Ripple’s stablecoin, crossed $2.32 billion in market cap, dominating stablecoin activity on XRPL.

Ripple unlocked 1 billion XRP on September 1, 2026. The price went up anyway.

The monthly escrow release — once a source of fear for retail traders — has become a non-event. Three transactions of 500 million, 400 million, and 100 million XRP hit the market within minutes. The total was worth around $1.38 billion. XRP was trading at $1.38 when the tokens unlocked and sat at $1.42 five days later.

The escrow program started in December 2017. Ripple locked 55 billion XRP into time-based contracts to reduce concerns about centralized supply control. Each month, up to 1 billion tokens are released. Ripple typically re-escrows 700 to 900 million of those, leaving only 100 to 300 million for actual market use.

That means the real supply addition each month is a fraction of the headline number. Historical data shows monthly releases produce average 7-day price swings of just -3.1% to +1.7%. The remaining escrow balance now stands at 31.28 billion tokens.

August’s Rally Set the Stage

XRP entered August near $1.10 and climbed 28.5% by month end, touching $1.70 on August 28. That was its strongest August since 2021.

xrp price
XRP Price

The move was driven by institutional buyers, not retail traders. Spot XRP ETFs, approved in March 2026, pulled in $153.55 million during August, with $150.28 million arriving in the final two weeks alone. Retail exchange volume actually declined slightly during the rally.

Cumulative ETF inflows now stand at $1.68 billion, with total net assets at $1.48 billion. On September 4, XRP ETFs recorded zero daily net inflows, though assets held steady.

On-Chain Activity Hit Record Levels

Active addresses on the XRP Ledger reached 2.26 million in August, more than double July’s 1.02 million. The 7-day average for daily active addresses hit 1.34 million, a new all-time high.

Payment volume surged 521% in a single week in late August, pushing daily volume to around 488.4 million XRP. Individual transaction count actually fell 10.5%, meaning fewer but much larger transfers — a sign of institutional or enterprise-scale activity.

Total value locked on XRPL rose from $32.31 million in July to $44.42 million in August.

Analyst Celal Kucuker posted on X that XRP “looks amazing,” pointing to multiple technical formations all targeting the $2.30 level, suggesting that price “could come sooner than expected” if XRP reclaims $1.50.

As of September 7, XRP trades near $1.42, holding above the key $1.40 support level. The Senate delayed the CLARITY Act again before recess, adding regulatory uncertainty. The Senate returns September 14, with a Fed meeting scheduled for September 15–16.

The post XRP Price: Best August in Five Years, Record On-Chain Activity — What’s Next? appeared first on CoinCentral.

Also read: Bitcoin (BTC) Hovers Near $80K as Fed Rate Hike Odds Surge and Institutional Buying Continues
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