Messari’s Q1 2025 report, The State of the #XRP Network, highlights XRP’s significant outperformance relative to other major cryptocurrencies in both market cap resilience and network activity. While Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana collectively saw their market value drop by 22% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ), XRP’s market cap increased by 2%—an impressive divergence in a challenging market.

RLUSD, Ripple’s US dollar-pegged stablecoin, emerged as the dominant stablecoin on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), reaching a market cap of $44.2 million. Additionally, Ripple’s acquisition of prime broker Hidden Road marked a historic milestone: the first time a crypto company has acquired such an entity. Hidden Road will migrate its post-trade infrastructure to XRPL and use RLUSD as collateral—further entrenching Ripple’s role in institutional blockchain finance.

XRPL’s technical evolution continues rapidly. On March 31, the #XRPL #Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible sidechain launched on testnet, with mainnet deployment expected in Q2 2025. Ripple also unveiled a roadmap to bring native smart contracts to XRPL. The first step in this journey will be the introduction of “Extensions,” enabling developers to augment existing ledger structures with customizable code.

These developments mark a pivotal shift from payment-only infrastructure to a fully programmable blockchain. In parallel, Ripple is targeting regulatory-aligned enterprise use cases with two new protocol proposals: “Credentials,” which embeds KYC and AML compliance, and “Permissioned Domains,” which restricts access to verified users—laying the groundwork for regulated financial applications.

For the second consecutive quarter—a first since Messari began tracking XRPL in 2023—all major network metrics showed growth. Average daily active addresses jumped 142%, reaching 134,600, while average daily Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) volume rose 74% to $13.7 million.

Payment transactions climbed 36% to 1.12 million, reversing the 8% decline seen in the previous quarter. Although Automated Market Maker (AMM) volume dipped 13% to $4.5 million, the broader trend remains decisively upward. Taken together, this data confirms growing adoption across retail, DeFi, and institutional verticals—positioning XRPL as one of the most robust and rapidly evolving blockchains heading into mid-2025.