Ripple has decided to stay private despite raising $500 million at a $40 billion valuation, using the funding to expand through acquisitions and product development. The company processed over $95 billion in payments in 2025 and strengthened its stablecoin and institutional crypto services, backed by major investors like Citadel and Fortress.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) rebound toward $91,000 marks a decisive recovery from its recent dip to the $82,000 zone, with macro tailwinds — chiefly expectations of an imminent Federal Reserve rate cut — re-energizing market sentiment.

XRP is entering one of its most pivotal weeks of the year, positioned at the intersection of tightening technical levels and intensifying ETF speculation. After a series of market shocks, Ripple’s native token now sits at a moment where traders believe the next decisive move is imminent—either a breakout that reshapes momentum or a breakdown that sends XRP back into deeper consolidation.

After his failed attempt to defeat Sen. Elizabeth Warren for a senate seat last year, XRP lawyer John Deaton is back for another Massachusetts Senate bid—but this time, his biggest challenge may come from inside his own party.

South Korean supermodel and TV personality Han Hye-jin has lost access to her YouTube channel — and more than 860,000 subscribers — after hackers took over her account to livestream a deepfake video of Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse promoting an XRP-themed crypto scam.

Ripple’s series of major announcements failed to buoy XRP, which fell over 9% this past weekend, highlighting a widening gap between the company’s ambitious initiatives and market sentiment toward the token. Even the highly anticipated Swell conference—featuring major financial institutions such as Mastercard, Nasdaq, and Galaxy Digital—could not halt the sell-off, suggesting that market psychology outweighs headline-driven optimism.

Ripple’s U.S. dollar–backed stablecoin, Ripple USD (RLUSD) has just squeezed itself into the the top 10 rankings in the stablecoin charts less than a year after its debut in December 2024 last year, with its market capitalisation breaking the 1 billion threshold.

Ripple has partnered with Absa Bank, one of South Africa’s largest financial institutions, to launch a digital asset custody platform for institutional clients, marking the company’s first major custody partnership in Africa.

In one of the most shocking shake-ups the crypto world has seen this year, David Schwartz — the man often called the architect of Ripple — has announced he’s stepping down as Chief Technology Officer after more than 13 years at the helm.

Brad Garlinghouse, the embattled CEO who steered Ripple through one of crypto’s most grueling legal fights, is closing out 2025 on a remarkable high note.