A Ripple pioneer is back in the SEC case, and they say they recognized the same tactics from outside the crypto world. XRP is also up sharply, clearing $1.60 for the first time since February and pushing its market cap back past $100 billion (https://coinpedia.org/crypto-live-news/xrp-price-breaks-1-60-for-first-time-since-february/ and https://u.today/xrp-reclaims-massive-100-billion-market-cap). The timing is not a coincidence.
The XRP Ledger retried an upgrade that lets banks split payment and compliance duties, so a single transfer can carry both the money and the regulatory check at the same time (https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/09/23/xrp-ledger-retries-upgrade-that-lets-banks-split-payment-and-compliance-duties). That matters because banks have been reluctant to use crypto rails when compliance and settlement had to be handled separately.
The retry signals the network is still pushing for real institutional use, not just trading volume.
But the price move is being driven by more than just technical upgrades. XRP reserves on Binance hit a three-month high as the price first crossed $1.50, which means a lot of tokens are sitting on the exchange ready to trade (https://cryptopotato.com/xrp-reserves-on-binance-hit-3-month-high-as-price-breaks-1-50/).
Meanwhile, 1,917 whale transactions hit a monthly high as XRP topped $1.60, and XRP volume exploded to $7.4 billion, with a massive CME short squeeze blamed for the acceleration (https://news.bitcoin.com/market-updates/xrp-tops-1-60-as-1917-whale-transactions-hit-monthly-high/ and https://cryptoslate.com/xrp-volume-explodes-to-7-4b-and-a-massive-cme-short-squeeze-is-blamed/).
A short squeeze works like this: traders who bet against XRP get squeezed out as the price rises, and their forced buying pushes it even higher.
The pioneer's return to the SEC case adds a legal layer to all of this. They say the tactics they are seeing in that fight look familiar from elsewhere in finance, which suggests the regulatory question around XRP is far from settled. But right now, the market is not waiting for the courtroom.
It is pricing in the upgrade, the whale activity, and the squeeze all at once.
The level to watch is whether XRP holds above $1.60 once the short squeeze unwinds. If it does, the $100 billion market cap has a real floor under it. If it does not, the next test is the $1.50 level that triggered the Binance reserve spike.
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