Ripple Secures EU Regulatory Passport as Token Price Lags Behind Corporate Deal-Making

Ripple secures EU CASP license for 30-country passport. Teams with OUSD stablecoin consortium and Mastercard's AI payment net. RLUSD market cap at $1.6B.

Ripple has won full authorization from Luxembourg’s financial regulator to operate as a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP), granting the company a so-called EU passport that covers all 30 countries in the European Economic Area. The decision by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) came just days after the European Union’s MiCA transition period expired on July 1, 2026, a deadline that roughly 300 firms have now met. The license allows Ripple to offer regulated services across the bloc without applying for individual permits in each market, a significant strategic advantage over competitors that missed the cutoff.

The regulatory milestone arrives as Ripple deepens its institutional ties through two high-profile partnerships. Late June saw the company join the Open USD (OUSD) consortium, a stablecoin initiative backed by over 140 heavyweights including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, BNY, Coinbase, and Google. Ripple participates as an integration partner, not as an issuer—OUSD is managed by the independent organization Open Standard and will launch on Solana, Stellar, Base, and Polygon, notably omitting the XRP Ledger. The consortium’s fee-free model, which distributes nearly all interest income to partners, has already rattled incumbents; shares of Circle plunged double-digits on the announcement day.

Hard on the heels of that alliance, Mastercard recruited Ripple as a settlement partner for its new artificial intelligence-powered payment network, Agent Pay for Machines. The XRP Ledger serves as the settlement layer within a structure that otherwise remains anchored to Mastercard’s traditional card rails. Analysts caution that neither arrangement creates a direct purchasing mechanism for XRP tokens—transactions flow through the ledger and Ripple’s own stablecoin, RLUSD, rather than requiring XRP as a settlement token. The indirect benefits come from increased network activity and enhanced credibility for Ripple’s ecosystem.

Ripple’s stablecoin ambitions are meanwhile gaining traction. RLUSD, which backs the company’s regulated cross-border settlement services, now commands a global market capitalization of $1.6 billion. Supply on the XRP Ledger has climbed nearly 21% over the past month to $890 million, where RLUSD dominates the platform’s stablecoin ecosystem. The new EU license is expected to accelerate RLUSD’s integration into European payment infrastructure.

Yet the token’s price tells a different story. XRP changed hands at $1.14 on Wednesday, down 1.5% on the day but still managing a weekly gain of 8.7%. The cryptocurrency trades well below its key moving averages—the 50-day average of $1.20 and the 200-day average of $1.48. On a year-to-date basis it has shed roughly 40% of its value, and it remains nearly 69% below the 52-week peak of $3.65 hit in early 2025. The relative strength index of 51.9 points to a neutral market, with no clear overbought or oversold conditions.

Under the surface, however, on-chain metrics reveal a network in flux. Exchange outflows have topped 228 million XRP tokens in recent days, a sign that selling pressure is easing. Trading volumes have surged more than 200%, while daily active addresses jumped 72% over a two-week span, hitting a three-month high after a wave of liquidations flushed out weak hands. Meanwhile, open interest in XRP futures has dropped to its lowest level since July 2025, indicating a reduction in leveraged positions and a potentially healthier market structure.

Institutional investors have not been deterred by the price weakness. Spot-based XRP exchange-traded funds recorded net inflows for eight consecutive weeks, with $144.7 million flowing in during the most recent week alone, bringing the cumulative total since launch to approximately $1.48 billion. The streak was broken at the end of the quarter on June 30, when the first net outflow appeared, but the broader appetite for regulated XRP exposure remains intact.

Ripple continues to build out its developer ecosystem independent of token price fluctuations. On June 10, the company unveiled the XRPL AI Starter Kit, providing tools and integrations for automated payment applications on the ledger, including support for x402 payments using both XRP and RLUSD.

The next major catalyst for the market could come on July 14, when the U.S. government releases the latest consumer price index data. Traders will parse the inflation figures for clues on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path, which historically influences risk assets including cryptocurrencies. For now, Ripple holds a newly strengthened regulatory footing in Europe, but the market is waiting for a signal that can lift XRP above its technical ceiling.