NEW YORK, Feb 28, 2026, 13:03 EST — Market closed.
- XRP fell about 2% on Saturday, extending a late-week pullback in crypto.
- Traders digested fresh geopolitical risk in the Middle East and a hotter U.S. producer-inflation reading that pushed out rate-cut hopes.
- Ripple flagged a shift toward more distributed funding for XRP Ledger developers, a move aimed at broadening support beyond the company.
XRP slipped on Saturday as traders pared risk ahead of Wall Street’s Monday reopen, with the token last down 2.2% at $1.33.
The mood turned cautious after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, an escalation that lifted oil worries and sent investors back toward traditional havens. Bitcoin was not treated like one, Reuters reported. 1
Macro data did not help. U.S. producer prices rose 0.5% in January, Reuters reported, and economists in that report said the surprise reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve would stay on hold until at least mid-June. “We expect the Fed to remain on pause,” said Ben Ayers, a senior economist at Nationwide. 2
Bitcoin and ether were also lower on the day, with weekend trading leaving prices prone to fast swings and shallow order books.
Risk appetite had already softened on Friday as investors questioned whether the AI trade had run too far, too fast. Nvidia fell 3.5% on the day, and Talley Leger, chief market strategist at The Wealth Consulting Group, said semiconductors “have priced in a lot of good news,” adding: “now it’s time for a breather.” 3
With U.S. stock markets shut for the weekend, traders are turning to next week’s U.S. jobs report as the next pressure point for rate expectations. A Reuters poll cited in a weekly preview pegged February job growth at 60,000 after a stronger January, and flagged more reads on U.S. activity data in the days ahead. 4
Ripple also handed XRP holders a company-specific talking point. The crypto payments firm said it wants development funding for the XRP Ledger to become more distributed, leaning more on independent groups, venture partners and community-led initiatives rather than a single pipeline, DL News reported. 5
Some of the unease still traces back to equities. Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid said Nvidia’s numbers were solid but the market had been conditioned by “massive beats,” and that “positive surprises weren’t on the scale” investors had come to expect. 6
But the next leg is not guaranteed. Weekend liquidity can exaggerate moves, and any further escalation around Iran or another upside inflation surprise could jolt yields and the dollar, a mix that often squeezes high-volatility assets such as crypto.
Traders now look to U.S. February payrolls data on Friday, March 6, and the delayed January PCE inflation report due March 13 — two dates that could reset rate-cut bets again, and with them, the tone for XRP into the new week.
