Ripple (XRP) extends losses on the third day in a row after its bullish momentum lost steam under the resistance level at $2.23. The path of least resistance is downward, with technical indicators reinforcing the bearish grip while the XRP price hovers at around $2.08 on Friday.
This bearish outlook reflects subdued sentiment in the broader cryptocurrency market, which has seen most altcoins claw back gains. Ethereum (ETH) upholds support at $2,400 at the time of writing, but resistance at $2,500 remains unbroken.
Ripple has turned to Wormhole, a leading protocol in cross-chain interoperability, to speed up the integration of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) mainnet and the XRPL Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Sidechain.
As demand for stablecoins and tokenized assets increases in financial markets, Ripple believes there is a dire need to build supporting blockchain infrastructure. This will ensure that institutions and users can securely and efficiently move assets without the risk of liquidity fragmentation.
According to the announcement on Thursday, Wormhole, which supports over 200 applications across more than 35 blockchain ecosystems, will integrate its flagship cross-chain infrastructure with the XRPL mainnet and the XRPL EVM SideChain.
The integration will enable developers to transfer supported XRPL assets, including tokens such as XRP, Issued Assets (IOUs) and Multi-purpose (MPTs) across supported protocols. Developers will also communicate with smart contracts across blockchains using specialized messaging and data triggers.
“If you want real mass adoption, interoperability is essential. The infrastructure has to be there, not just on one chain, but across them. With this integration, tokens natively issued on the XRP Ledger are being set up for that reality by being able to move between blockchain networks while maintaining native issuance, and control,” Ripple’s CTO, David Schwartz, said in a statement.
XRP has extended the downtrend below support at $2.09, signaling vulnerability to overhead pressure ahead of the weekend. A sell signal, maintained by the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) since Thursday, indicates increasing bearish momentum as traders consider reducing their exposure to XRP.
The red histogram bars below the MACD zero line cement the bearish grip, especially with XRP extending losses below the 50-period Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $2.13, the 100-period EMA at $215 and the 200-period EMA at $2.18 on the 4-hour chart.
XRP/USD 4-hour chart
The path of least resistance could stay downward, increasing the possibility of the XRP price sliding below the $2.00 round-figure support, especially if the Relative Strength Index (RSI) continues to drop, nearing oversold territory.
Key areas for monitoring include $1.90, which was tested on Sunday, $1.80 and $1.61, last probed in April following the tariff-triggered sell-off.
Still, an immediate rebound above the support highlighted in green on the chart cannot be ruled out, which could build on risk-on sentiment if the XRP futures Open Interest (OI) continues to uphold the uptrend currently at $4 billion.
Ripple is a payments company that specializes in cross-border remittance. The company does this by leveraging blockchain technology. RippleNet is a network used for payments transfer created by Ripple Labs Inc. and is open to financial institutions worldwide. The company also leverages the XRP token.
XRP is the native token of the decentralized blockchain XRPLedger. The token is used by Ripple Labs to facilitate transactions on the XRPLedger, helping financial institutions transfer value in a borderless manner. XRP therefore facilitates trustless and instant payments on the XRPLedger chain, helping financial firms save on the cost of transacting worldwide.
XRPLedger is based on a distributed ledger technology and the blockchain using XRP to power transactions. The ledger is different from other blockchains as it has a built-in inflammatory protocol that helps fight spam and distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks. The XRPL is maintained by a peer-to-peer network known as the global XRP Ledger community.
XRP uses the interledger standard. This is a blockchain protocol that aids payments across different networks. For instance, XRP’s blockchain can connect the ledgers of two or more banks. This effectively removes intermediaries and the need for centralization in the system. XRP acts as the native token of the XRPLedger blockchain engineered by Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto and David Schwartz.