Ripple Just Dropped Its Q1 2025 XRP Markets Report, and it Reads Like a Victory Lap

From crushing it in the market to finally closing its long-running legal battle with the SEC, Ripple's start to the year has been exciting.

Ripple (XRP) has announced that it will no longer be releasing its quarterly XRP markets reports in their current format, beginning in the second quarter of 2025. The company has been publishing these reports for the past eight years, providing a detailed analysis of the XRP ecosystem and its performance.

In its latest report, which covers the first quarter of 2025, Ripple highlighted several key developments, including the closure of the long-running S.E.C. case and strong activity in the XRP Ledger (XRPL) ecosystem.

The S.E.C. case, which began in December 2020, was finally closed in April 2025, after the S.E.C. dropped its appeal against a lower court ruling in favor of Ripple. The case had dragged on for over two and a half years and involved allegations that Ripple sold unregistered securities in the form of XRP tokens.

The case also led to a broader discussion about the regulation of cryptocurrencies in the U.S., with S.E.C. Chair Gary Gensler and other officials warning that many tokens could be deemed securities.

In another development, the S.E.C. has asked the court to cancel the injunction against Ripple and reduce the proposed penalty for settling the case. The S.E.C. had initially proposed a penalty of $125 million, but it has now requested that the penalty be lowered to $50 million.

The S.E.C.’s request to cancel the injunction is part of a broader move by the new U.S. government to roll back some of the old restrictions on crypto.

The S.E.C.’s case against Ripple had broad implications for the crypto industry, as it could have set a precedent for how other tokens are regulated. The case also highlighted the differences in opinion between the S.E.C. and the lower court, which ultimately ruled in favor of Ripple on all three claims.

The case is now headed back to the lower court, where the judge will decide on the S.E.C.’s request to cancel the injunction and reduce the penalty. The case could still be appealed further, but it is expected to be largely wrapped up by the end of the year.

In the meantime, Ripple is continuing to build out its institutional products and services. The company recently bought Hidden Road, a global prime broker, for $1.25 billion.

The deal will give Ripple new tools to expand its institutional services and provide liquidity management solutions to customers.

The integration of RLUSD, Ripple’s stablecoin, and the XRP Ledger will enable faster and cheaper post-trade operations in foreign exchange, swaps, and repo markets.

The company’s XRP holdings increased slightly by the end of March 2025, with a total of 4.56 billion XRP held, compared to 4.48 billion at the start of the year. An additional 37.13 billion XRP remains locked in escrow and will be released gradually over the next 42 months.

On-chain activity on the XRP Ledger cooled after a big spike in late 2024, with transaction numbers and new wallet creations both dropping by 30-40%. This aligns with the broader crypto market trends, which also saw a decline in activity after the 2024 bull run.

However, DeFi activity on the XRPL held up better than most other major blockchains, with trading volumes on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) only dipping by 16%.

In contrast, other chains like Ethereum and Bitcoin saw much steeper drops in DEX volumes.

The integration of RLUSD also saw positive progress, with the stablecoin crossing a $90 million market cap and over $300 million traded on DEXs. This underscores the increasing adoption and liquidity of RLUSD in the XRPL ecosystem.

As for price performance, XRP had a strong showing, outperforming Bitcoin and Ethereum.

With a nearly 50% jump early in February and a steady hold as other big names dropped, XRP was one of the strongest-performing assets in the first quarter.

This performance is evident in the substantial inflows into XRP-based investment products, amounting to $37.7 million in just three months, pushing its 2025 total to $214 million.

This figure places XRP’s global funds just $1 million away from surpassing Ethereum’s, highlighting the significant interest in XRP-based investment products.

After eight years of publishing these detailed reports, Ripple will be transitioning to a new approach for communicating with the market.

“After careful consideration, Ripple has made the decision to sunset the report in its current form starting in Q2 2025,” the company announced in the report.

This decision reflects Ripple’s commitment to evolving its communication strategies and engaging with the market in new and meaningful ways.