Despite a sharp price reversal for XRP, on-chain payment activity on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) has surged significantly, indicating robust underlying network demand. Data from XRPSCAN shows the XRPL payment volume climbed from 640,830,942 XRP on March 12 to 741,484,987 XRP on March 13, marking a 15.7% increase in a single day. This surge in utility contrasts with XRP's price, which declined over 3% in the same period, retesting the $1.38 level after recently reclaiming $1.45.
The growth in network usage is part of a longer-term trend. According to on-chain data and reports from Evernorth, daily payments on the XRPL have climbed from roughly 1 million in mid-2025 to nearly 3 million transactions in early 2026. This recovery follows a period of fluctuation and decline in late 2025, with activity now approaching levels not seen since December 2024.
This rising on-chain activity persists against a challenging macroeconomic backdrop for crypto. The global cryptocurrency market capitalization has fallen by more than $551 billion this year, with XRP contributing approximately $26.39 billion to that decline.
In a parallel institutional development, Evernorth has announced a business combination agreement with Armada Acquisition Corp II. Upon closing, expected in Q1 2026, the combined company plans to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker XRPN. The deal could raise over $1 billion, with investments from SBI, Ripple, Pantera Capital, Kraken, and GSR. Evernorth CEO Asheesh Birla stated the initiative aims to expand institutional participation around XRP, a goal echoed by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, who highlighted alignment with efforts to expand global payment utility.
