XRP

Analysts at institutional market maker Wintermute say the local altcoin rally could stall if Bitcoin fails to hold its recent breakout at $82,500. The firm's assessment ties the fate of XRP and other altcoins directly to whether Bitcoin can sustain that level. Should Bitcoin lose the breakout, the broader altcoin advance would be at risk, according to Wintermute.

The crypto market is extending a selloff from the weekend, with most assets trading in the red as traders weigh inflation concerns. XRP is facing a 980% liquidation imbalance as long positions take the brunt of the hit in the market selloff.

Bitget said about $387.5 million in cryptocurrency was transferred to attacker-controlled addresses during a Sept. 24 security breach, raising its estimate from an initial $351.6 million as the exchange works to trace and recover the assets. The higher figure reflects a more complete accounting that includes assets on the Zcash and TRON networks omitted from the original estimate, and does not represent additional unauthorized transfers. XRP accounted for one of the largest portions of the theft, with public blockchain records showing nearly 103 million XRP transferred from Bitget-linked wallets, and about 54 million XRP had left the five original holding wallets by 12:41 UTC Saturday, leaving roughly 49 million XRP across those accounts, down from about 70 million about eight hours earlier. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said preliminary IP and blockchain analysis pointed to possible involvement by North Korean hackers, though the attribution has not been independently confirmed, and Mandiant and blockchain security firm SlowMist are assisting with the investigation. Bitget has launched a bounty program offering 5% of affected funds that participants directly help freeze and 5% of funds they help recover, and said its User Protection Fund will cover the financial impact of the breach while customer account balances remain unaffected.

Autonomous AI agents using XRP Ledger infrastructure for around-the-clock settlements have begun to favor regulated stablecoins over native crypto assets on a large scale, according to XRPL AI Hub data. The shift means these agents are opting for Ripple USD rather than XRP when settling transactions around the clock. The data comes from XRPL AI Hub, which tracks activity on the XRP Ledger. The article also references a new prediction from BlackRock, though no further details on that prediction are provided in the available text.

The D'CENT App Wallet drain is continuing, with 640,370 XRP stolen this week, according to xrpl.to, a DEX and analytics platform on the XRP Ledger. The platform issued a crucial alert warning users never to send XRP to the old app wallet as the drain persists. No further details on the total losses or the number of affected users were provided.

XRP ETF cumulative inflows have stalled at $1,710,373,047.51 as of September 18, 2026, leaving a gap of $290 million to reach the $2 billion mark, according to SoSoValue data pulled on September 19. The week ending September 18 drew just $9.57 million, the lowest of the past three weeks and down from $18.98 million in the week ending September 11 and $13.32 million in the week ending September 4, a three-week average of $13.96 million. The slowdown coincided with two macro events: the Senate rejected the CLARITY Act by a vote of 49 to 50 on September 15, a day when XRP ETFs recorded no inflows at all, and the Federal Reserve raised its target range by 25 basis points to an upper bound of 3.75% to 4.00% on September 16, which produced $3.5 million in inflows mainly driven by Franklin Templeton, the sole issuer with a disclosed positive inflow across the five days. At the current pace of $9.57 million it would take 30 weeks to reach $2 billion, versus 21 weeks at the three-week average and 15 weeks at the $18.98 million pace, putting the projected crossing around April 16, 2027, though a return of August's record $110.49 million week could bring it as early as the second week of October 2026. XRP still leads Solana spot ETFs, whose $1.37 billion total as of September 17 is 25% smaller, but Bitcoin spot ETFs held $55.16 billion in cumulative net inflows as of September 18, 32 times XRP's total, while Ethereum funds held $13.25 billion, or 7.7 times.

Goldman Sachs reversed its Federal Reserve rate forecast twice in four days, telling clients on the morning of September 15, 2026 that it expected a hike the next day but not another one as its baseline, then shifting within hours of the September 16 decision to call for another 25-basis-point increase in October. The second change followed the Fed's updated rate projections, higher inflation forecasts, and Chair Kevin Warsh's comments on financial conditions. The Federal Open Market Committee voted 12-0 to raise its target range by 25 basis points to 3.75%-4.00%, the first hike since 2023, and the dot plot showed 16 of 18 officials expecting at least one more hike this year while four projected two additional increases. The Fed also raised its 2026 headline Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation forecast to 3.7% and lifted its core inflation forecast. Bitcoin is trading near $76,300, up roughly 18% over the past month but about 34% below its level a year ago, while XRP is near $1.29 after gaining roughly 28% over the past month and remains about 56% lower year over year. An October hike would reach markets with less time to adjust than after September's fully priced move, and the 10-year Treasury yield crossed 5% this week for the first time since 2007.

The SEC rejected a nineteenth XRP short ETF while $1.11 billion flowed out of regulated spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs over just 48 hours. The two-day institutional outflow followed a synchronized shock: an unexpected Federal Reserve rate hike and the Senate's blocking of the CLARITY Act, which together triggered panic selling. The crypto market is now attempting a fragile relief bounce this morning as it tries to stabilize after the large-scale exit of institutional capital.

The CLARITY Act, a bill on cryptocurrency regulation in the United States, has stalled after a Senate vote on the 15th returned only 49 votes in favor to 50 against, short of the 60 needed for a procedural vote to open the way for the Senate to consider the bill further. The bill aims to answer which types of crypto should fall under the supervision of the US Securities and Exchange Commission or the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and how to set rules for the spot crypto market. Its core is to expand the role of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission in overseeing the spot market. The two parties had negotiated, and a compromise draft ran more than 600 pages, but they still could not agree on several issues, especially rules on the ethics of public officials with interests tied to crypto businesses. This time, not only did Democratic members vote against it, but some Republican members also disagreed. After the vote result, the XRP coin fell nearly 10%, while ETH and SOL dropped about 5%. Bitcoin fell nearly 3% to around 76,000 dollars, although price moves over the same period also involved other market factors. From here, crypto regulation will remain the responsibility of the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which can still issue rules and guidance, but rules from regulators are easier to change than laws passed by Congress. Attention must therefore be paid to new negotiations or political maneuvering after the midterm elections on November 3 and the new Congress early next year.

Former Ripple CTO and XRP Ledger chief architect David Schwartz directly linked the failure of the key crypto bill, the CLARITY Act, to lobbying by the traditional financial sector. Schwartz said the US Senate blocked the CLARITY Act in order to protect bank profits. He attributed the bill's defeat to pressure from the traditional financial sector rather than to concerns about the legislation itself.

XRP tumbled 9.4% over the past 24 hours to trade at $1.28 after the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act, a bill that would have made the token's commodity status permanent under U.S. law. The cloture motion failed 49 to 50, falling 11 votes short of the required 60 and one vote short of a simple majority, with Senator Chris Coons not participating. XRP's commodity status currently rests on a joint SEC and CFTC interpretation from March 17, 2026 that classified it as one of 16 digital commodities, which a future commission could alter by vote. Coinbase, the exchange most affected by the bill, fell 8.65%, while Bitcoin slipped only 1.2%, Ethereum fell 2.9% and Solana dropped 3.4%. XRP also broke below its 200-day moving average at $1.355, which it had held for five sessions, touching an intraday low of $1.276. Senator Thom Tillis filed a motion to reconsider at 3:01 p.m., and Kalshi traders put the odds of it passing before year-end at 20%. Attention now turns to the Federal Reserve's 2 p.m. ET rate decision, with CME FedWatch showing a 92% chance of the first rate hike in three years; support sits at $1.25, then $1.21 and $1.10, with an August 17, 2026 low of $0.9877.