📉 WHY hasn't XRP returned to its previous peak even though BTC has reached 123k?

Ongoing legal risks

Although Ripple has won most of the lawsuit against the SEC, legal proceedings are not completely over → causing institutional money to not really come back.

Lack of new growth momentum

There is no prominent narrative anymore. Compared to chains like Solana, ETH, or new layer 2s, XRP lacks DeFi, NFT, staking, or a clear use-case for retail.

Negative market sentiment towards XRP

Many investors are still "stuck" from the peak of 2017–2018. Each upward movement faces strong selling pressure.

XRP is excluded from the initial cash flow cycle

BTC usually leads the cash flow → ETH → mid-cap → low-cap → old coins like XRP are often the last group to be FOMOed into.

Price volatility not attractive to short-term traders

Low range, lack of breakout volume, does not attract speculative cash flow like trending coins (AI, RWA, meme...).

✅ Conclusion:

XRP is still a major asset, but lacks catalysts and is no longer at the center of cash flow. We need to wait for clear signs of altseason or unexpected events (final settlement with SEC, investment funds coming in, ecosystem expansion...) to return to previous peaks.