Massive Spike in $5.94 billion XRP Transactions Stuns Market, Reversing Coin's Direction
In the dynamic world of cryptocurrencies, the market witnessed a turbulent start to the Friday session, with prices fluctuating wildly. Amidst this volatility, one digital asset stood out – Ripple's XRP.
The surge in XRP's open interest has been a notable development, according to Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. This surge, it seems, is driven by expanding institutional activity beyond Bitcoin, indicating a growing interest in XRP from the financial sector.
In August, CME futures recorded a staggering $36 billion in open interest for crypto futures and options, with XRP futures contracts being the fastest-ever to hit $1 billion in open interest. This rapid growth was reflected in XRP's volume, which rose by 44% to reach $6.57 billion, as per CoinMarketCap data.
The catalyst for this surge could be the activation of the major XRP Ledger amendment, known as the "Credentials" amendment. This amendment, which introduces on-chain KYC/AML compliance tools, was officially proposed and activated by the XRP Ledger community and validators, with over 80% support. The activation occurred on September 4, 2025, at 03:51:21 UTC, as confirmed by validators including XRP validator Vet.
The new credentials standard introduces a new "Credential" ledger object and new transaction types for creating, accepting, and deleting credentials on the XRP Ledger. This lightweight feature additive to the DID standard on the XRP Ledger, known as Credentials (XLS-70), was activated on the XRP Ledger mainnet this week.
At press time, XRP was down 0.85% in the last 24 hours, trading at $2.80 after reaching an intraday high of $2.88. The broader crypto market, however, rose in response to a weaker jobs report released on Friday, potentially boosting the potential of a rate cut in the upcoming Fed meeting scheduled for September.
Apart from XRP, various crypto assets saw a surge in trading activity, suggesting a broader interest in the digital currency market. As the market continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how these developments shape the future of cryptocurrencies.
