XRP (XRP) fell 3.74% to $1.39 on March 22, trading 62% below its July 2025 all-time high of $3.65, as open interest collapsed 75% from its peak and leveraged positions continued to unwind.
The price decline coincides with broader macro pressure from the US-Iran war, surging oil, and fading Fed rate cut expectations that have weighed on risk assets across the board.
How Bank Stablecoins Could Drive XRP Demand
While XRP’s price slides, a structural bull case is gaining attention. Qualified Family Office Professional Jake Claver argued on X (Twitter) that every bank launching its own stablecoin creates a new currency that needs to communicate with every other currency.
That fragmentation, Claver said, is not competition for XRP. It is the exact interoperability problem Ripple built XRP to solve.
More stablecoins mean more isolated liquidity pools, and more isolation increases demand for a neutral bridging layer sitting in the middle.
Versan Aljarrah, founder of Black Swan Capitalist, framed XRP holders as participants positioning for a broader financial reset, gaining early access to the infrastructure of a new payment system.
XRP Open Interest Signals Weak Conviction
Analyst Xaif Crypto flagged that XRP open interest has dropped 75% from its peak. Binance remains the only exchange with meaningful derivatives activity. Leverage has exited, but conviction-based buying has not replaced it.
Notwithstanding, institutional infrastructure around XRP continues to expand independently of price. Evernorth Holdings filed an S-4 with the SEC on March 18 to go public through a SPAC merger with Armada Acquisition Corp. II.
The firm holds 473 million XRP valued at roughly $685 million and plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker XRPN. Ripple, SBI Holdings, and Pantera Capital back the venture.
Whether the stablecoin fragmentation thesis translates into measurable on-chain demand for XRP as a bridge asset remains unproven.
However, the gap between declining price and expanding infrastructure is the tension driving the current debate among XRP analysts heading into Q2 2026.
