Already the biggest gainer among major cryptos since November’s US presidential election, Ripple’s XRP fared even more on Wednesday after Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty dined with President-elect Donald Trump.
“Great dinner last night … Strong start to 2025,” Garlinghouse wrote on X, along with a photo of him and Alderoty with Trump.
The token is higher by about 2% over the past 24 hours against approx. 2.5% decline for bitcoin and the broader CoinDesk 20 index. Since the Trump victory, it has skyrocketed more than 300%, easily outperforming all the other major cryptos. Another massive beneficiary of the election, dogecoin (DOGE), for example, has “only” about doubled.
Crypto investors are looking for new developments to “burn the bull,” said Aurelie Barthere, principal analyst at Nansen. This would include news that US inflation and labor markets are cooling, or indications of the Trump administration’s future policies. Until there is further clarity, however, she expects the markets to be uneven.
“We expect an ongoing softening in the US labor market, which should cap US rates and help crypto, including the XRP price, participating in the same move. […] “Ripple’s CEO meeting Trump before his inauguration is definitely a bullish sign,” according to Barthere.
A potential XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF), which Ripple president Monica Long said she expects to come out of the US this year, has also boosted the price of the token, as well as the firm’s US dollar stablecoin, RLUSD, received regulatory approval in December. Earlier on Wednesday, the stablecoin was listed on the crypto exchange Bitstamp.
“We see a bias towards buying XRP from our franchise this week, mainly from retail brokers and crypto native funds,” said Zahreddine Touag, Head of Trading at Paris-based market maker Woorton. “This may be due to the positive news that has recently come out of the Ripple Foundation, namely the potential XRP ETF listing and the launch of the RLUSD stablecoin.”
