Among all the popular cryptocurrencies, XRP has made a name for itself thanks to its blazing-fast, low-cost, and cross-border transaction capabilities.
A favorite among both institutional and retail traders, XRP is today the world's fifth-largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $83 billion.
However, it hasn't been an easy journey.
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In December 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the Joe Biden administration sued Ripple Labs for conducting a sale of unregistered securities via the sale of XRP tokens.
Ripple argued that XRP is a digital currency, not a security.
District Judge Analisa Torres ruled in July 2023 that while Ripple's programmatic sales of XRP on crypto exchanges didn't constitute a sale of securities, the sale of XRP to institutional players violated U.S. securities laws.
Both parties took the matter further up the benches, and the case went on for years.
It wasn't that other cryptocurrencies weren't facing a similar dilemma over their regulatory status, but the battle over XRP became a rallying cry for the entire crypto industry which felt it was under the siege of the U.S. government.
So, when the securities regulator with a new, pro-crypto leadership under the Donald Trump administration settled the legal dispute in August last year, the digital assets industry was over the moon.
With no regulatory hurdles, pro-XRP traders, often dubbed the "XRP Army," were certain the cryptocurrency would rally to new heights. It wasn't an unreasonable belief, given that XRP was trading well above $3 around the time of settlement in early August.
But then, the Oct. 10 flash crash happened two months later, and no cryptocurrency has been able to recover so far.
In fact, XRP is among the worst-hit cryptocurrencies as of Feb. 5, as it has lost 14.5% of its value in the last 24 hours. It crashed to as low as $1.35 on the day.
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$1 billion in crypto positions wiped out
The total crypto market cap fell 6.6% in 24 hours and stood at $2.44 trillion at the time of writing.
Bitcoin (BTC) was doing no better and crashed below $70,000 for the first time since November 2024. It fell 7.5% in 24 hours to trade at $69,299.99 at the time of writing.
Ethereum (ETH) fell more than 6.5% to trade at $2,051.36 at press time. BNB also fell 9.5% to $671.76, and Solana (SOL) 6.8% to $88.30.
As per the onchain analytics platform CoinGlass , XRP positions worth $34.7 million have been wiped out in the last 24 hours. Overall, crypto positions worth more than $1 billion have been liquidated during the period.
Bitcoin led with $522.5 million in crypto liquidations in 24 hours, followed by $243.6 million in Ether and $69.08 million in Solana.
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Feb 5, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
