XRP (XRP) fell 3.74% to $1.39 on March 22nd, trading 62% lower than its all-time high of $3.65 in July 2025, as total open interest dropped 75% from its peak and leveraged positions continued to shrink.
This price drop coincided with greater macroeconomic pressure from the US-Iran war, sharply rising oil prices, and dwindling expectations of Fed interest rate cuts, impacting all risky assets.
How could a bank-backed stablecoin boost demand for XRP ?
While XRP price continues to fall , a long-term bullish scenario for XRP is gaining attention. Family Office managing expert Jake Claver argues that each bank launching its own stablecoin creates a new currency, and they all need to be interconnected with other currencies.
According to Claver, this Shard is not a competition for XRP, but rather a problem of interconnectedness between ecosystems, which Ripple created XRP to address.
The emergence of more stablecoins means more isolated sources of liquidation , and the more isolated they become, the greater the need for an intermediary to Vai as a bridge.
Versan Aljarrah , founder of Black Swan Capitalist, argues that XRP holders are essentially preparing for a major financial transformation, and they have early access to a new and potentially lucrative payment infrastructure.
XRP price performance. Source: BeInCryptoXRP 's open interest index shows weak confidence.
Crypto expert Xaif points out that the total value of open XRP contracts has dropped 75% from its peak. Currently, Binance is the only exchange with significant XRP Derivative activity . Leveraged funds have withdrawn, but confidence-based buying has yet to materialize.
However, the infrastructure for institutional XRP is still expanding despite price volatility. On March 18th, Evernorth Holdings filed an S-4 filing with the SEC for a public listing through a merger with Armada Acquisition Corp. II.
This company currently holds 473 million XRP, estimated to be worth approximately $685 million, and plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol XRPN. Ripple, SBI Holdings, and Pantera Capital are backing this transaction.
Whether the stablecoin Shard scenario will actually create significant on- chain demand for XRP as a Vai is still unclear, as there is no clear data available.
However, the widening gap between falling prices and infrastructure development is a point of contention among XRP analysts as we head into Q2 2026.
