A fresh dispute inside the XRP community has collided with weak on-chain data, leaving XRP under pressure near $1.30. Digital Asset Investor argued that XRP was uniquely damaged by the long SEC lawsuit against Ripple, recalling that XRP once overtook Ethereum in market capitalization before regulatory pressure changed its trajectory. Pro-Ripple lawyer Bill Morgan pushed back, arguing that the SEC case can no longer serve as the main explanation for XRP’s current price. The SEC and Ripple formally dismissed their respective appeals on August 7, 2025, ending the civil enforcement action while the existing final judgment, including a $125 million penalty, remained in place.
Morgan emphasized that XRP has fallen about 45% over the past 12 months and roughly 60% since the litigation was resolved. He called the lawsuit excuse “quite old,” adding that positive lawsuit developments had only short-term effects on price and that the final settlement caused no lasting repricing. CoinDesk has made a similar observation, noting that XRP remains below its January 2018 peak while Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other large crypto assets have surpassed previous cycle highs.
Separately, XRP Ledger activity showed a sharp contraction. Payment volume tracking XRP sent between accounts dropped to 119.5 million XRP on October 17, a 72.3% decline in a single day. The 30-day average sits near 629.3 million XRP, while the all-time high is 7 billion XRP. Early data for October 18 showed roughly 37.5 million XRP, down another 68.6% at the time, though the daily figure was still incomplete. Over the past year, daily volume has typically ranged from 300 million to 1 billion XRP, with spikes to 2.5 billion in November and February.
Technically, XRP trades near $1.30 after falling from a September high around $1.66. It has slipped below the 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day moving averages, which sit between $1.34 and $1.38 and now act as resistance. The RSI is near 40, indicating weak momentum without an oversold extreme. The nearest support is the $1.25 to $1.27 zone, followed by $1.15 and the $1.00 base from August. Bulls need to push price back above $1.34 to $1.38; otherwise rallies may fail. The combination of falling payment volume and a weak technical structure suggests fewer coins are moving and fewer buyers are stepping in.
