NEW YORK, Feb 20, 2026, 13:03 EST — Regular session
- XRP was up about 2% near $1.43, after trading between $1.38 and $1.44 over the past 24 hours.
- A hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation reading pushed traders to reassess the timing of Federal Reserve rate cuts.
- Washington resumed talks on the CLARITY Act, with stablecoin “rewards” still the sticking point.
XRP was up about 2% at around $1.43 on Friday, recovering some ground after a soft start to the month, data from CoinMarketCap showed. The token traded between $1.38 and $1.44 in the last 24 hours, with about $2.5 billion in volume. (CoinMarketCap)
The move comes as crypto traders are again forced to juggle two drivers at once: U.S. interest-rate expectations and the shape of future regulation. Neither offers much comfort right now.
On rates, new data showed underlying U.S. inflation ran hotter than expected at the end of 2025, a reminder that the Fed may keep borrowing costs high for longer. The core PCE price index — the Fed’s preferred gauge because it strips out food and energy — rose 0.4% in December and was up 3.0% from a year earlier, a Reuters poll showed. “It tends to be a very volatile category,” Barclays economist Pooja Sriram said, flagging a jump in legal services that could muddy the near-term read. (Reuters)
That matters for XRP because higher rates tend to drain appetite for risk and reduce the appeal of assets that do not generate yield. Crypto markets have traded like that for months: more macro than narrative.
Policy is the other live wire. U.S. officials met with banks and crypto industry groups at the White House on Thursday to discuss how stablecoin rewards could be handled under the proposed Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, Decrypt reported. Stablecoins are crypto tokens designed to hold a steady value — usually $1 — and the argument is over whether “rewards” should be treated like bank-style interest. Crypto Council for Innovation chief executive Ji Hun Kim called the talks “focused working engagement” and said further discussions were expected, though no agreement was announced. (Decrypt)
Broader markets were choppy but leaned firmer after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s tariffs, a decision investors saw as supportive for earnings and trade. Bitcoin was up 0.65% at $67,349.65 and ether rose 0.38% to $1,955.40, Reuters reported. (Reuters)
XRP often trades in the slipstream of bitcoin, but it carries its own baggage because of its link to Ripple Labs, which uses the token in some of its payments products. A major legal cloud lifted last year after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ended its case against Ripple, leaving a $125 million fine in place. (Reuters)
Still, the path from “less legal risk” to “sustained demand” is not straight. If inflation stays sticky and the market pushes rate-cut bets further out, crypto can lose altitude quickly. If Washington’s stablecoin fight hardens into a ban on rewards, traders say that could cool activity on U.S.-linked platforms and knock sentiment again.
What traders are watching next is simple and dated: the next U.S. personal income and outlays report — which includes the PCE inflation data — is scheduled for March 13 at 8:30 a.m. EDT. (Bea)
