What To Know:
- Garlinghouse’s X activity sparks renewed optimism among XRP traders, with two liked posts interpreted as quiet confidence despite the token trading below $2.
- Social media enthusiasm contrasts with weak price action, as XRP hovers near $1.92 and remains far from the rally levels seen during Ripple’s SEC case momentum.
- Analysts warn fundamentals remain challenging, citing XRP’s large token supply, limited scarcity, and uncertainty over its long-term role as Ripple expands beyond payments.
A brief moment of X activity from Ripple chief executive Brad Garlinghouse has reignited optimism across the XRP community.
XRP Under $2 Still Sparks Optimism
The renewed enthusiasm came after Garlinghouse liked two posts on X shared by an XRP supporter within a single day. Also, for many traders, the interaction was seen as a kind of silent affirmation of assurance in the long run, especially as the crypto trades below the psychological $2 mark.
The first post carried a message on financial ambition and social responsibility. It encouraged XRP holders to support families, communities, and people facing hardship if profits materialize in the future. Shortly afterward, the user claimed Garlinghouse had engaged with the post. When the executive later liked another message from the same account, enthusiasm spread quickly.
No way 😳 Brad, Ripple’s CEO, just liked another post of mine that’s 2 in the last 24 hours. Lock in, XRP Army. 🚀 https://t.co/WFm810aYil pic.twitter.com/WJZhkFUrG2
— Captain mallard 🦆🟣 ⚔️ (@Brett_Crypto_X) January 19, 2026
“No way. Brad, Ripple’s CEO, just liked another post of mine. That’s two in the last 24 hours. Lock in, XRP Army,” the user wrote.
According to the poster, the second message suggested Garlinghouse was unconcerned about recent market weakness. Screenshots circulated rapidly, drawing attention from traders who interpreted the interaction as more than a casual gesture.
One user suggested that this kind of engagement gave traction to the sentiment. The speculation grew in XRP forums and comment threads, with some traders saying the likes provided some kind of indirect hope for the market during a period of price stagnation. XRP has never really bounced back the way it was back in a rally we observed over a year, when optimism for Ripple’s protracted legal battle against the US Securities and Exchange Commission reached its peak.
This crypto appears to be still one of the most talked about digital assets online even though its price move has not been particularly noteworthy. Right now, XRP is at $1.92, down about 1.7 percent from yesterday’s levels. Ripple executives aren’t stopping with the decline from expressing confidence in the broader crypto sector’s path.
Monica Long, Ripple President, would have said that 2026 could signal the industry’s shift away from experimentation toward large-scale production, with stablecoins becoming a central part of a global settlement infrastructure. But analysts caution that hype is fueled solely by social media, and might actually be ahead of fundamentals. Emma Newbery, a crypto analyst at Motley Fool, provided a cooler tone in a statement that said XRP has structural problems that are rarely discussed in bull markets. “Ripple’s XRP was one of last year’s biggest crypto stories,” Newbery wrote, claiming that much of the rally was based on expectations regarding the resolution of Ripple’s court case. She added that since the legal outcome became clear, XRP has struggled to sustain upward momentum.
She described the post-settlement decline as a familiar pattern in digital asset markets, where speculative buying fades once headline catalysts pass.
Beyond sentiment, Newbery highlighted concerns around XRP’s supply model. Ripple created 100 billion tokens at launch. Roughly 66 billion are now in circulation, while about 34 billion remain locked in escrow, she added.
According to her analysis, this structure introduces persistent pressure. Ripple’s substantial holdings give the company influence over market supply, while the absence of a hard scarcity model limits price tension seen in assets like Bitcoin.
She also pointed to market capitalization math as a constraint. Even modest jumps in the price of XRP would lead to huge jumps in valuation, and whether such growth and the associated returns could be underpinned by actual demand are questionable. Newbery noted that while adoption of the XRP Ledger by banks could benefit the ecosystem, XRP itself may not be pivotal to Ripple’s worldwide commercial success.
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