Popular crypto trading platform MoonPay has addressed the recurring negativity it encounters whenever it posts about XRP on X. 

Over the years, XRP has amassed significant support from retail investors, institutional clients, and major crypto platforms. Meanwhile, MoonPay has emerged as one of the few trading services that have consistently been bullish on the asset. 

The company has repeatedly shared bullish posts about XRP, celebrating its price rallies, hosting token giveaways, and even declaring in August that XRP holders deserved a follow from its X account. 

MoonPay Calls Out Negative Sentiment Toward XRP 

While maintaining its bullish stance on XRP, MoonPay took to X to address the hostility that often breaks out whenever it posts about the token. The company noted that some users often ridicule XRP, largely due to personal bias or loyalty to other assets.

MoonPay stressed that such reactions are unwarranted. It pointed out that the success of one cryptocurrency does not depend on the failure of another. In other words, Bitcoin, Solana, Cardano, or any other token can all thrive in the same market alongside XRP. 

The firm further acknowledged that XRP may not align with everyone’s crypto philosophy, but this does not mean others are wrong for supporting or believing in it.

Ultimately, MoonPay’s message calls for more respect and less tribalism in the crypto space. It suggests that diverse projects and perspectives are part of what makes the crypto industry dynamic and innovative.  

MoonPay Launches New XRP Campaign 

MoonPay’s commentary comes just hours after it launched a new XRP campaign. In an announcement on X, the company revealed that it will reward one follower with $2,025 worth of XRP, provided the token reaches a new all-time high by December 31, 2025.

The campaign highlights MoonPay’s continued support for XRP. For the reward to be issued, XRP would need to climb roughly 80% from its current price of $2.14. Such an increase would push the token to about $3.85, surpassing its previous all-time high of $3.84 set in January 2018. 

A wild XRP price glitch occurred on the prominent cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, sending the coin to an unprecedented high of $91.6 per coin.

XRP trades at $2.16 at the time of writing, down over 2.2% since the start of today. Yet for a moment, the coin rallied to $91.6, leaving enthusiasts drooling over the potential impact of this price shift on their portfolios.

XRP Briefly Pumps to $91.6 on Kraken

Crypto millionaire Kevin Cage highlighted this glitch on the XRP/USD chart on Kraken early Wednesday. He shared that this “super weird flashwick” came to his knowledge as the spike triggered his price alert.

Meanwhile, data from TradingView confirms this glitch. On the 5-minute timeframe, XRP crashed to a low of $0.00272 at 04:05 (UTC) on November 19 but recovered to close at $2.18.

About 10 minutes later, XRP spiked to $91.62 but quickly retreated, closing at $2.18. Notably, research shows that this anomaly was peculiar to the Kraken exchange, as the price of XRP across other exchanges stood at around $2.18 at the time.

Interestingly, this glitch marked a staggering 4,102% surge from the market price at the time. This would have represented a remarkable portfolio growth for holders if it were a reality.

XRP Enthusiasts Dreamed, but for a Moment

Meanwhile, reactions expressed optimism about this price action, with some suggesting it was a sign of things to come. A user explained that the flicker on Kraken is beyond a random noise but a real signal of where the “vacuum pockets are.” He added that the vacuum on Kraken is higher, not lower, suggesting that XRP is programmed for a substantial rally.

Other reactions also confirmed being notified of this spike. However, there has been no report of filled orders at the time of writing, indicating there may have been no impact on the platform’s order book.

Notably, such a spike occurs on exchanges when there is a thin order book. A large order during this time of low liquidity tends to move prices to match it with the best available counterorder in the record book.

One of Many Price Glitches

Meanwhile, this is not the first time an XRP price glitch has happened. One recent example of this is a flashwick to $5.59 on the crypto exchange GateHub in July.

Another event of this spike occurred on Gemini in August 2023. Following XRP’s listing on Gemini after Ripple’s notable victory in its now-concluded legal battle against the US SEC, the token spiked to $50 per coin.

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, a trader with 3.7 million followers on X, has revealed a major XRP acquisition.

This came in a tweet today in which he announced that he had purchased more than $2 million in crypto assets during Monday night’s market downturn.

The move included a massive $1 million position in XRP and has caught the attention of Eric Trump, who called it a “smart trade.”

Portnoy Buys $1M in XRP Amid “Blood in the Streets”

Portnoy described the moment as classic “blood in the streets” trading, saying he acted like a “Great White Shark” during the market dip.

In the video posted on X, he detailed his rapid-fire buys on November 17. At 6:38 PM, he purchased $500,000 worth of XRP, followed by $400,000 worth of Ethereum and $750,000 worth of Bitcoin at 6:37 PM.

One minute earlier, at 6:36 PM, he added another $500,000 of XRP, bringing his total XRP purchase to $1 million.

According to Portnoy, the opportunity was too compelling to ignore:

“I bought over $2,000,000 in crypto. There’s blood in the streets, and I’m like a Great White Shark.”

Eric Trump Calls It a “Smart Trade”

The announcement drew notable reactions, including one from Eric Trump. He publicly praised the move, saying, “Smart trade, Dave Portnoy.”

Eric has been increasingly active in crypto conversations throughout the year. He previously predicted that Bitcoin could end the year at $170K and reach $1 million in the years to come. He often calls for buying the dip during market downturns, hence his praise for Portnoy’s $2 million investment.

For context, Portnoy’s buys came amid significant weekly and monthly declines across major cryptocurrencies.

XRP is trading at $2.14 after dropping 10.3% in the past week. Bitcoin sits at $90,919, down 12% over the same period, while Ethereum has slid to $3,038, falling 11.77%.

On the monthly chart, the losses are even deeper, with Bitcoin down 18.5%, Ethereum down 25.5%, and XRP down 13.14%.

The steep declines have created the kind of environment traders like Portnoy see as a buying opportunity.

Portnoy’s Previous XRP Exposure

In an interview in May, Portnoy explained why he invests in XRP, saying his interest is mainly due to “good FOMO.”

He likened XRP’s upside potential to Bitcoin’s early days. Portnoy said he enjoys the thrill of making money effortlessly, comparing crypto gains to placing successful bets. He admitted he doesn’t rely on XRP’s fundamentals but sees it as one of the few tokens that still carries underdog appeal.

Meanwhile, in July, The Crypto Basic reported that Portnoy regretted panic-selling roughly $3 million in XRP after misinterpreting a friend’s warning text.

He had planned to hold through volatility but sold at $2.40 when he feared bad news, only for XRP to surge to $3.65 shortly after. Portnoy said missing the rally made him “sick,” despite gains in BTC and ETH.

RippleX has opened an important conversation in the XRP community, as its engineering team considers how native staking could eventually work on the XRP Ledger. 

Notably, the XRPL has operated for more than a decade, yet it still trails other networks in DeFi because of its underlying technology. For instance, the ledger uses a Proof-of-Authority model instead of the Proof-of-Stake approach that powers most modern DeFi platforms. 

RippleX Exploring Native XRP Staking on XRPL

As a result, the XRPL does not support staking, and the system burns transaction fees rather than distributing them to validators. Now, RippleX engineers want to examine if staking can fit within the XRPL’s design.

Ayo Akinyele, Head of Engineering at RippleX, opened the discussion through a thread on X. He explained that the launch of the first XRP spot ETF, along with expectations of more products, shows that the ecosystem has entered a new phase as institutions adopt tokenized treasury products and money-market funds. 

According to Akinyele, this change triggered conversations between him and Ripple CTO David Schwartz about whether the XRPL could one day support native staking and what the system would require to achieve this.

On the approach to take, Akinyele noted that the XRPL cannot copy the staking model used by Proof-of-Stake networks. He pointed out that XRP burns fees, settles payments quickly at low cost, and gives every validator an equal vote regardless of token holdings. 

Because the XRPL does not link validator power to economic incentives, staking would need to serve an entirely different purpose. 

He pointed out that staking would also require a clear reward source and a fair distribution method, and both elements would decide how value flows across the network. The engineering head stressed that the conversation remains exploratory and aims to show what might change and what must remain the same.

Ripple Executives Respond

Adding to the discussion, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse commended Akinyele’s effort and encouraged the community to think about what the XRPL could support as new XRP-based DeFi projects continue to appear.

In response, David Schwartz noted how much the blockchain industry has changed since the XRPL launched in 2012. 

He said that his views on consensus and governance have also changed over time and that he has recently revisited how XRP works in DeFi, both through off-chain ecosystems such as Flare, MoreMarkets, Axelar, and Doppler, and through native on-chain activity. 

With programmability efforts and smart contract discussions underway, Schwartz believes this moment presents an opportunity to consider what additional native DeFi features might look like. 

Two Technical Possibilities

However, an XRPL dUNL validator known as Vet shared his own concerns. He questioned how staking fits into a network that does not use Proof-of-Stake and asked what practical problem it would solve. 

Responding, Schwartz presented two technical possibilities. The first idea would add a second, incentivized inner layer: an inner set of validators, roughly 16, chosen by the outer layer according to stake, with staking and slashing used only to advance the ledger.

The second idea would keep the existing consensus intact but use transaction fees to fund zero-knowledge proofs that vouch for correct smart-contract execution, so nodes would not have to run contracts themselves. 

The Ripple CTO called both concepts clever on a technical level but warned they probably would not make for practical or healthy changes in the near term.

Emerging Concerns Around Introducing Native XRP Staking

Meanwhile, in a separate commentary, Vet warned that adding staking rewards could create misalignment between users and validators, which might push fees higher. 

He also raised questions about who would receive the rewards and warned that redistributing fees could introduce governance issues, Sybil risks, and validator clustering as operators search for lower operating costs.

Akinyele then addressed each of these concerns. Specifically, he reiterated that the XRPL does not rely on stake-based influence and that validators do not compete for block production, so staking cannot play any role in consensus. 

He noted that the ledger avoids tension between users and validators by treating fees purely as anti-spam charges. The RippleX engineer warned that introducing incentives would push the XRP Ledger toward behaviors it originally avoided. 

He also explained that only UNL validators participate in consensus and that paying either everyone or only the UNL could create new risks or encourage operators to game the system. 

Akinyele added that incentives might even push validators to cluster in cheaper data centers, which would work against XRPL’s goals of resilience and decentralization. 

Meanwhile, community contributor WrathofKahneman argued that staking would carry a major structural impact because Ripple holds the largest amount of XRP. He suggested that such a setup could increase Ripple’s influence over governance and make amendment approvals easier if staking became tied to voting power.

Despite the rising crypto market uncertainties, XRP could be on the cusp of a recovery to higher prices spurred by retail sentiment.

The excitement around an XRP rebound on Tuesday has quickly turned sour. After an over 2.4% increase to an intraday high of $2.23, the cryptocurrency relinquished all of its gains early Wednesday, retracing to $2.14 at the time of writing.

Rebound Signs Stands Strong

Yet, there remains widespread sentiment that XRP could see higher prices from current levels. One such assertion comes from Santiment, a prominent market intelligence platform, which shared in a recent analysis that XRP is showing promising signs of a rebound.

The firm’s belief in this trajectory stems from retail market sentiment and how prices have historically reacted to it. Santiment highlighted that retail wallets are selling off their XRP holdings, a move that typically sparks a price recovery.

For context, the analysis classified retail wallets in this context as addresses with less than 100 XRP, worth $214 at the current market price.

Specifically, holders in this category have sold 1.38% of their holdings since the start of November in response to adverse market conditions. Recall that a recent report from The Crypto Basic shows that XRP supply in profit has dropped to 58.54%, a low last seen when the token changed hands at $0.53. The ensuing panic appears to be influencing the latest selloffs.

Yet, Santiment believes this is a good sign for XRP. It stressed that prices tend to move in the opposite direction to retail trader behavior. When small wallets panic and sell their holdings, it is a positive sign for market recovery.

XRP Shows Signs of Accumulation

An accompanying chart shows that XRP is exhibiting a usual sign of slight accumulation after severe retail sales, highlighting a brief pause in retail dumps. This pattern is normal in the small wallet behavior observed since December 2024, where they halted briefly before continuing their liquidation.

However, the other coins in the top three cryptocurrencies by market cap (excluding stablecoins) have seen more aggressive sales. Bitcoin retail traders dumped at the highest rate in two months, with holders of less than 0.01 BTC selling 0.36% of their stash in the past five days.

Ethereum retail traders are selling at the most aggressive rate among the top three. Specifically, addresses with less than 0.1 ETH have sold 0.90% of their holdings in the past month, coinciding with the asset’s dip.

Santiment noted that all three leading crypto assets are showing promising signs of a rebound, spurred by these retail dumps. This also suggests a possible recovery from Bitcoin’s current trend at $90,410 and Ethereum’s price of $3,011 to greater heights.