XRP’s social media timelines have turned hostile again. Over the past week, long-time holders have announced they are selling, a builder on the XRP Ledger has publicly criticised the ecosystem’s direction, and an open letter to Ripple’s leadership has split the community. Ripple executives and community figures are pushing back.

Here is what is behind the sudden wave of negativity, what each side is saying, and where XRP’s price stands.

The main trigger is price. XRP is trading around $1.15 to $1.19, roughly 70% below its all-time high of $3.84, which it set in January 2018. The token came close to that record in July 2025, when it reached $3.65, but has fallen since then.

That weakness stands in contrast to Ripple’s run of good news. In recent weeks the company has won final approval for a national trust bank charter, announced new partnerships at its Swell conference and reported strong revenue growth. Many holders feel the company is thriving while the token gets left behind.

Several other events added to the anger:

  • An open letter asked Ripple’s leaders to take steps to lift XRP to $15 to $20, setting off a debate over what Ripple owes holders
  • Long-time holders said they were quitting. Community member Ryan Solomon wrote that he was likely selling everything after seven years, citing opportunity cost and what he called “narrative shifting”
  • Off-topic insults aimed at Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz led him to start blocking users who flood his replies

The sharpest criticism came from a CEO, a long-time builder on the XRP Ledger. The expert said he remains bullish on XRP over the long term, but not on its current direction or the people making the key decisions.

He pointed to falling activity on the network:

  • Daily volume on the XRP Ledger’s built-in exchange is about $5 million
  • Total value locked in its DeFi apps is about $35 million
  • Liquidity, volume and TVL have all been declining steadily

“Announcements are not adoption. Partnerships are not liquidity,” he wrote.

Mekras argued that Ripple’s success as a company, the XRP Ledger’s growth as a network and XRP’s value as a token are three different things, and that one does not prove the others. Asking how network activity turns into value for holders is “not FUD,” he said. While Ripple does not control the network on its own, its money and relationships give it far more power than any small team to move the ecosystem forward.

Other critics compared XRP with Ethereum and Solana, saying both have done more to attract developers and give holders ways to put their tokens to work.

Hugo Philion, CEO of Flare, said the problem lies in how holders view XRP. Its value should never have been seen as depending on one company, Philion argued. In place of asking what Ripple will do, holders should ask:

  • What are you doing to put your XRP to work?
  • What are you doing to show non-holders that XRP is worth owning?
  • What are you doing to turn XRP from a speculative asset into usable capital?

Bill Morgan said the criticism is full of contradictions. XRP was once attacked as a “bankers’ coin,” and then attacked again when banks did not buy it. Critics once complained that Ripple relied on selling XRP for income. Now that Ripple earns money from its acquisitions, they claim XRP no longer matters to the company.

Morgan also said XRP’s drop from its peak is in line with other major tokens. Solana is about 70% below its January 2025 high of $294.33, and Chainlink is about 80% below its May 2021 peak of $52.88.

A long-time holder argued Ripple never set out to make XRP holders rich, the holder argued, and buying a token does not give anyone a claim on the company’s profits. “Supporting a technology only when it makes your portfolio richer is not championing a vision. It is simply speculating,” the post read.

Other defenders called XRP a commodity that holders can help shape themselves. Some claimed the negativity is a deliberate attempt to shake out small investors near a market bottom, though they offered no evidence for this.

Trader Ali Martinez said XRP has reached the lower edge of a falling channel that has guided its price for the past month. If $1.14 holds as support, Martinez sees a possible rebound toward the channel’s upper edge at $1.30, a move of about 13%.

Social sentiment toward XRP has also fallen to its lowest level since July, according to Martinez. Some traders read that as a contrarian signal that selling pressure may be close to running out.

The debate comes down to one question: should XRP’s price follow Ripple’s success? Critics want clear proof that the company’s growth creates demand for the token. Defenders say that link was never promised, and that the XRP Ledger’s future depends on builders and holders as much as on Ripple. Until real activity on the network picks up, that tension is likely to continue.

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