XRP’s price has come under pressure following an outage in the XRP Ledger on the evening of February 6, which lasted for 64 minutes. Users have expressed concerns about the network’s stability, and technical indicators suggest the token may face further price declines.
XRP Ledger Outage
On Tuesday, the XRP Ledger blockchain halted at block 93927174, causing transactions to be unprocessed for an hour. Ripple's CTO, David Schwartz, confirmed the incident, stating that users' funds are secure, but the cause of the issue is still under investigation.
Schwartz explained that the network experienced what is known as a “drift,” where the consensus mechanism continued to function, but validators did not publish checks. As a result, the network fragmented, and one of the validators manually selected the last stable point, allowing synchronization to be restored.
The event has led to criticism within the crypto community. Some users believe the problem is linked to the centralization of XRPL. Although the network has over 200 validators, only a limited number participate in the consensus process, which critics argue makes the blockchain vulnerable to coordinated attacks.
XRP Under Pressure
As of the time of writing, XRP is trading at $2.46, reflecting a 2.70% decline in the last 24 hours. Over the week, XRP has lost 20.78%, which is partly attributed to the overall bearish sentiment in the market. If the support at $2.32 breaks, analysts predict the token could fall below $2.
Analysts report that the number of active addresses on the XRPL has remained at 256,000 over the past week, a 37% decrease from two weeks ago (407,000) and 50% lower than the December 2024 peak. This decline suggests weakening interest in the token.
XRP and Potential Role in U.S. Crypto Reserve
Amid the market pressure surrounding XRP, discussions continue within the crypto community about the potential inclusion of the token in the U.S. crypto reserve.
Mark Yusko, CEO of Morgan Creek Capital Management, previously suggested that the Trump administration might add XRP to the national digital asset reserve. He stated that Ripple’s project could be considered a potential tool for the banking system’s infrastructure.
This viewpoint was supported by crypto analyst Digital Asset Investor, who argued that XRP could play a crucial role in the future financial ecosystem of the U.S.
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