Already one of the biggest gainers among major cryptos since the US presidential election in November, Ripple’s XRP gained more on Wednesday after Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty dined with President-elect Donald Trump .
“Great dinner last night… Strong start to 2025,” Garlinghouse wrote in X next to a photo of her and Alderoty with Trump.
The token is up about 2% over the past 24 hours compared to a roughly 2.5% decline for bitcoin and wider. CoinDesk Index 20. Since Trump’s victory, it has risen more than 300%, easily outpacing all other major cryptos. Another huge beneficiary of the election, dogecoin (DOGE), for example, roughly doubled.
Crypto investors are looking for new developments to “energize the bull,” said Aurelie Barthere, chief research analyst at Nansen. These include news that US inflation and labor markets are cooling, or directions on future policies of the Trump administration. However, until there is more clarity, he expects markets to remain volatile.
“We expect continued softening in the US labor market which should put a cap on US rates and help crypto, including the price of XRP, participating in the same move. (…) “Ripple’s CEO meeting with Trump before his inauguration is definitely a bullish sign,” according to Barthere.
A potential XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF), Ripple President Monica Long he said he expects to be out of the US this year also boosted the price of the token, as well as the firm’s US dollar stablecoin, RLUSD, received regulatory approval in December. Earlier on Wednesday, the stablecoin was listed on crypto exchange Bitstamp.
“We are seeing a buying bias for XRP from our franchise this week, mainly from retail brokers and crypto native funds,” said Zahreddine Touag, Head of Trading at Paris-based market maker Woorton. “This may be due to the recent positive news coming out of the Ripple foundation, namely the potential listing of the XRP ETF and the launch of the RLUSD stablecoin.”
