I've been keeping an eye on the developments of XRPL, and recently, Ripple and community contributors released an institutional DeFi blueprint that’s quite interesting. They’re trying to turn the XRP Ledger into a truly compliant financial DeFi platform, which is a different approach from other public chains. Unlike other smart contract chains that first develop features and then add compliance later, XRPL has built-in identity and control mechanisms at the protocol level. What does this mean? Institutions can control market participants through permissioned domains and credential authentication, which is a big selling point for traditional financial institutions—they’ve long considered the lack of identity management as a major barrier to on-chain adoption. XRP’s role in this ecosystem is also very clear. As a settlement and bridging asset, it not only connects different stablecoin corridors and remittance flows but is also designed to serve as collateral, reserves, and a fee-burning asset. This directly ties network usage to the native asset, and the design logic remains quite tight. Upcoming feature updates also revolve around this direction. XLS-65/66 lending protocols are launching, supporting pooled lending and underwriting, but without fully offloading risk logic onto the chain, which will be familiar to institutional risk management teams. In terms of privacy, confidential transfers using MPT will be introduced in the first quarter to meet enterprise and regulatory needs for transaction privacy and controlled disclosure. Interestingly, they are also building an EVM sidechain connected via the Axelar network. This allows Solidity developers to use familiar tools while accessing XRPL’s liquidity and identity features. To some extent, this is applying the modular approach of crypto to expand the XRPL ecosystem. In the market, XRP has recently experienced some adjustments, but in the long term, if this institutional DeFi infrastructure can truly be implemented, the potential for the entire ecosystem is quite significant. Especially in cross-border payments and on-chain credit markets, XRP’s positioning remains quite unique.

Bitcoin is stuck below the $90K mark, and there's a reason for that. Asian markets have hit record highs, the dollar is weakening, but crypto still remains stagnant. Ether dropped to $2,970, Solana, Cardano, and XRP are also down over the week. How does the COO see this — crypto still plays the role of a volatile risk extension rather than an independent asset. This week, there were forced liquidations worth billions, and although the dollar is weaker, investors remain cautious. Most tokens have fallen by 7-12% in recent days, signaling a fragile market sentiment. Traders are waiting for clear signals from the U.S. markets — whether crypto will rise along with stocks, or Bitcoin will stay below $90K until confidence returns?

XRP is now trading around $1.33 after falling from $1.38 yesterday. I see buyers still trying to defend the $1.35 level, but the pressure is quite serious with high volume. Whether this support level will hold is key for the next few hours. From the chart, XRP is in a corrective phase that has been ongoing since late February. Price movements are mostly driven by technical factors, not new news. I noticed a volume spike when it dropped to $1.347, which indicates aggressive selling rather than just liquidity. Traders are now focused: can XRP maintain support at $1.35? If yes, it could rebound to $1.36-$1.37 and maybe continue to $1.40. But if it breaks below $1.35, the next support is at $1.30-$1.32. Currently, the range is very narrow between $1.35-$1.36, which usually signals a big move is coming. It will be interesting to monitor whether momentum can shift or if this correction will continue further.