XRP surged more than 40% following President Trump's public call for Congress to pass the pro-crypto CLARITY Act at a White House event attended by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and other industry executives. As reported by crypto.news, this political support triggered a $9.2 billion increase in XRP's market cap over 24 hours, with price moving from approximately $0.99 to $1.15 on August 19-20, 2026. The rally reflects reduced regulatory risk and a short squeeze, with $2.74 billion in short positions being forced closed in 24 hours. The crypto Fear and Greed Index jumped from 46 (Fear) to 62 (Greed) in a single day, with XRP specifically gaining 11.2% over the same 24-hour window. The meeting brought together representatives from the crypto industry — including Ripple, Coinbase, Robinhood, and Kraken — as well as heads of the SEC and CFTC, drawing further market attention to the future direction of U.S. digital asset regulation.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced the company expects to more than double annual revenue year-on-year during 2026, as reported by crypto.news. Speaking at the SALT Wyoming Blockchain Symposium on August 20, Garlinghouse described AI as an "enabler and an accelerant" for companies with growing businesses and customer demand. He emphasized that AI allows companies to serve customers better, faster, and stronger when they already have compelling solutions. The positive regulatory environment is expected to boost institutional investors' willingness to allocate capital to digital assets and further drive the development of applications such as trading, payments, and asset tokenization.
According to crypto.news, Ripple has approximately 1,500 employees worldwide and maintains 150 open positions as the company continues expanding. The company currently lists 94 available positions on its public careers portal, including engineering roles focused on AI-driven operations. Garlinghouse rejected the argument that AI causes large corporate layoffs, suggesting some companies may be using the technology as an excuse for workforce reductions that were already needed.
As reported by crypto.news, Ripple completed its $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road in October 2025, renaming the business to Ripple Prime. The division now clears more than $3 trillion annually for over 300 institutional customers across digital assets and traditional markets. The prime brokerage business had previously tripled in size between the acquisition announcement and completion, though this figure represents company-supplied data without independent auditing.
The rally was supported by significant whale accumulation, with reports indicating whales purchased roughly 300 million XRP within 96 hours around this rally, calling it a "crazy shopping spree." Exchange reserves on major venues fell by over 240 million XRP between June and mid-August, while daily active addresses on the XRP Ledger jumped to the highest in more than two months. On-chain data shows payment volume briefly exceeded 550 million XRP in 24 hours, with price jumping from about $1.05 to $1.15 in the same session. ETF activity also turned supportive, with XRP ETF vaults crossing 1 billion XRP locked and $30 million in daily ETF trading volume.
