XRP Price Tumbles. Why the Crypto Is Getting Hit So Hard. — Barrons.com

By Callum KeownXRP tumbled and other cryptocurrencies were also under pressure Monday as traders digested President Donald Trump's latest policy measures.XRP, which is used to settle and facilitate transactions on Ripple Labs' digital-payments platform, fell to $2.19 at the start of the week--around 4.5% down over the past 24 hours. The popular altcoin has fallen 9% so far in March and is now just 6% up in 2025. It is still around 300% higher over the past six months.Ethereum was 2% down at $2.121, while Solana was 6% lower.The coin got a boost earlier this month, trading close to $3 when Trump named it, along with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Cardano, as cryptocurrencies that would be included in a national reserve.However, the reality of the White House's digital asset stockpile has sparked a selloff in altcoins. That's because of one particular line in the policy: "The government will not acquire additional assets for the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile beyond those obtained through forfeiture proceedings."The Treasury Secretary can determine potential sales, though. So it's a sell-only stockpile--not quite what traders had in mind.Furthermore, there seems to be no guarantee that XRP will be included at all--the government would need to have obtained the token through forfeiture.A White House official appeared to row back on Trump's namechecking of the cryptocurrencies set to be included. "I think the president just gave five examples of cryptocurrencies in his post," the official told reporters, according to CoinDesk.All of that means that instead of launching a push toward its all-time high, XRP is coming under heavy selling pressure with its 2025 gains at risk.Write to Callum Keown at [email protected] content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.