Ripple's Big Moves: What's Next for XRP?

Ripple's CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, hinted at possible future acquisitions in the second half of 2026, but emphasized that this year will be about integrating recent purchases. This comes after Ripple spent a whopping $4 billion on mergers and acquisitions in 2025, despite XRP's value being 60% lower than its peak. Ripple made some significant deals last year. They bought Hidden Road for $1. 25 billion, which handled over $3 trillion annually for more than 300 big clients, and GTreasury for $1 billion. These companies were rebranded as Ripple Prime and Ripple Treasury, respectively. Ripple Treasury offers tools for managing risks, foreign exchange, and compliance.Garlinghouse made it clear that XRP is central to Ripple's strategy. All of Ripple's products, like Ripple Payments, Ripple Prime, Ripple Treasury, custody services, and the RLUSD stablecoin, aim to boost XRP's usefulness, trust, speed, and liquidity. XRP's price has been on a rollercoaster. After dropping to between $1. 15 and $1. 20, it showed some signs of recovery. Some technical indicators suggest a temporary shift in momentum, but the overall trend is still downward. The price bounced back to around $1. 37-$1. 40, but faces strong resistance at $1. 45-$1. 50 and $1. 70-$1. 80. The big question is whether Ripple's spending spree and product expansions will actually increase demand for XRP. Despite Garlinghouse's focus on XRP's utility, investors seem skeptical, as the 60% drop in value indicates.