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XRP hasn’t just been moving on price charts lately; it has been popping up in major conversations across banking, real-world assets, and even US politics. 

New updates have surfaced in the past few days that touch everything from Japan’s biggest financial group to tokenized US Treasuries and a surprising development out of Washington. These updates offer important context about what’s building for XRP and Ripple behind the scenes and how they can affect the cryptocurrency’s price action.

Major Banking Group Makes Huge XRP Announcement

A new announcement from SBI Holdings has reiterated growing institutional interest in XRP in the Asian market. A press release dated February 20, 2026, from SBI Ripple Asia Corporation confirmed the start of technical support aimed at implementing blockchain utilization in financial services. The summary specifically references the use of the XRP Ledger in financial applications. 

The development comes alongside SBI’s launch of a 10 billion yen (approximately $64.5 million) blockchain-based bond for individual investors. The SBI START Bonds will offer fixed interest, blockchain-based settlement, and XRP rewards for eligible participants registered on the company’s exchange platform.

SBI has long been one of Ripple’s closest institutional allies and currently holds a 9% stake in Ripple Labs, making this expansion of blockchain-backed financial products particularly notable for XRP holders. Crypto commentator JackTheRippler reacted strongly to the update on the social media platform X, adding that sleeping crypto traders will only start to wake up when they see the XRP price at $100.

XRPL Leading Treasury Products; Tariff Ruling Signals Volatility

On-chain data shows that the XRP Ledger is increasing its position in the tokenized U.S. Treasury space. According to figures from RWA.xyz shared by analyst Xaif Crypto, XRPL now accounts for roughly 63% of the tokenized US Treasury supply in the OpenEden Treasury Bills (TBILL) Vault.

The OpenEden Treasury Bills is a smart contract vault that offers investors direct exposure to short-dated US Treasury bills (US T-Bills) through the TBILL token. TBILL issuance on XRPL has climbed to about $61.7 million at the time of writing, placing it ahead of networks such as Ethereum, Solana, and Arbitrum in this category.

In a recent video, crypto commentator Levi Rietveld discussed a US Supreme Court ruling that declared President Donald Trump’s tariffs illegal and how the next sequence of events might affect cryptos, including XRP, in the coming days and weeks. 

Due to the ruling, the US government could face up to $150 billion in tariff refunds. However, the court reportedly warned that the refund process may be complex, and President Trump has indicated he has a backup strategy to address the situation.

Rietveld suggested that these developments and refunds could lead to intense volatility across financial markets, including crypto. Notably, macro events like this have always had an effect on the price action of XRP.

Bitcoin is still hampered by the ongoing volatility across the cryptocurrency market, keeping its price below the $70,000 level for the past few days. With BTC’s price steadily trending downwards, whale short-term holders are starting to feel the heat, as their unrealized losses sharply increase.

Unrealized Losses Climb For Bitcoin’s STH Whales

After a prolonged period of downside price performance, Bitcoin’s unrealized losses are spiking. A recent report from Darkfost, a market expert and author of the CryptoQuant platform, has linked this sharp increase in unrealized losses to whale short-term holders. On-chain data shows that the level of unrealized losses held by these new whales is rising to increasingly concerning levels, hinting at mounting stress among some of the market’s largest and most influential participants. 

As Bitcoin tries to regain its upward momentum, these high-value wallets, which are frequently more sensitive to recent price changes, are currently sitting on substantial paper losses. At present, Darkfost has highlighted that the losses of these investors who entered the market within the past six months are valued at roughly $26 billion.

Zooming in on the chart, this figure ranks among the most significant levels seen this year. The peak was recorded on February 6th, which coincided with the BTC’s price drop below the $60,000 level, expanding unrealized losses during the period to approximately $32 billion. 

Darkfost noted that whales that joined the market later in the cycle are currently suffering the consequences of the current downward trend of the Bitcoin price. Although these investors holding positions at a loss is not necessarily constructive, it can erode confidence and bolster behavioral instability. 

Such a trend has the potential to trigger emotionally driven decisions in periods of renewed market volatility. Given the mounting pressure beneath the surface, short-term whale behavior may have a significant impact on Bitcoin’s next significant move.

No Real Rally for BTC In Sight Yet

Key Bitcoin on-chain signals are revealing a conflicting signal about the current market cycle. In a post on the social media platform X, CW, a data analyst and crypto investor, the BTC On-chain Activity Strength Signal metric is showing that a real rally has not progressed in this cycle.

Short-lived increases have been triggered by speculative momentum, but there are still no underlying structural clues that usually indicate a real long-term rally. According to the expert, everything that has occurred so far, from the massive rally to an all-time high to the sharp pullback, is a preparation for an upcoming rally, which is expected to kick off soon. 

CW has compared this impending massive upward move to the powerful rally experienced in the 2017 cycle. This time, the rally could be bigger due to the fact that whale accumulation is at an all-time high, adding that the real rally that is about to begin will be enormous.

Bitcoin miner Bitdeer has defended its decision to liquidate its Bitcoin holdings, saying it shouldn’t be a concern for the broader market.

Bitdeer’s Bitcoin Holdings Have Hit Zero

On Saturday, Bitdeer shared its weekly Bitcoin update in an X post, revealing that the company sold all of its mining output for the week. In total, the firm mined 189.8 BTC during the window, but due to the sale, its net holdings hit zero.

Based in Singapore, Bitdeer is a BTC mining platform that operates facilities in the US, Norway, and Bhutan, among other countries. According to BitcoinMiningStock, the firm’s active computing power or “Hashrate” is currently the largest out of all public miners, sitting at 63.2 exhashes per second (EH/s).

While Bitdeer is an established name in the space, it appears to be undergoing a change of strategy. Earlier, the firm would choose to sit on part of or all of its weekly BTC output, but the recent selling to a zero treasury balance reflects a shift.

Bitdeer took to X on Monday to talk about its BTC liquidation. “Our decision to sell Bitcoin should not be a concern for the broader market,” said the company. Bitdeer noted that it’s currently evaluating land acquisition opportunities and believes it to be prudent to prepare liquidity now.

The BTC miner has been expanding into AI infrastructure recently with its “Bitdeer AI” venture, so it’s possible that the land acquisition is linked to the firm’s datacenter push.

Bitdeer isn’t the only mining company that has been expanding into AI. Cango, the fifth largest miner in terms of operating Hashrate, announced a 4,451 BTC sale earlier in February as it looked to pivot into the AI compute business. Similarly, Bitfarms, the tenth largest BTC mining firm, also revealed a strategy shift in November, noting that a high-performance computing (HPC) business pivot could make the company more profitable than Bitcoin mining ever was.

Bitfarms plans to wind down its mining facilities over the course of 2026 and 2027, while Cango has so far remained committed to its mining business. Bitdeer also doesn’t appear to be backing off from BTC mining, as it said, “Our hash rate will continue to grow, and we will continue to mine more Bitcoin for the interest of our shareholders.”

BTC Plunges To Low $64,000 Levels Before Bouncing Back

Bitcoin has kicked off the new week with some volatility as its price first fell to around $64,300 for the first time since February 5th, before rebounding back up to the $66,100 mark.

The chart below showcases the latest price action in the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin open-source engineer Matt Corallo pushed back on claims that Bitcoin developers are “sleepwalking” on quantum risk, arguing instead that a practical post-quantum roadmap is already taking shape and may be simpler than critics suggest. Speaking on the Unchained podcast episode published Feb. 22, Corallo said the key work can be framed in two main steps: enable post-quantum key commitments first, then decide later when to disable vulnerable legacy spend paths.

Corallo’s appearance was a direct response to criticism popularized by Castle Island Ventures’ Nick Carter, who has argued Bitcoin developers are not treating the quantum threat with sufficient urgency. Corallo said that characterization misses both the amount of ongoing work and an important technical point about how many Bitcoin wallets already function.

He argued that most wallets using seed phrases already have a quantum-safe anchor at the wallet-derivation layer, even if the on-chain public key and signature scheme remain vulnerable to a future cryptographically relevant quantum computer. In his telling, that meaningfully changes the migration problem and could reduce how much disruption is required if the threat becomes urgent.

Corallo’s 2-Step Roadmap For Bitcoin

Corallo repeatedly returned to what he called the core sequence for Bitcoin’s quantum preparation. “There are only two steps,” he said. “The first relevant step is just adding the ability to commit to a postquantum public key. I think that should be done soon.”

He added that this first phase is increasingly converging around hash-based signatures, with current discussion focused less on whether to do it and more on exact implementation details. Corallo said he sees “pretty strong consensus” around hash-based approaches and pointed to work tied to BIP 360, while also noting debate continues on the precise format.

The second step, in his framing, is the politically harder one: deciding when legacy, quantum-vulnerable spend paths should no longer be accepted. That is the point where old coins that have not migrated — including lost or abandoned coins — become part of a market-driven fork decision, in his view.

Corallo’s argument for moving early on the first step but delaying the enforcement switch rests on cost and wallet behavior. He said wallets can start committing to post-quantum public keys now without immediately paying the size and fee overhead of using large post-quantum signatures on-chain.

“You really want an upgrade path that is free for now,” Corallo said. “The wallets know how to spend it. They know how to build these keys, how to sign with these keys. They just don’t have to use it yet.”

He argued this avoids a scenario where wallets postpone upgrades because post-quantum transactions are larger and more expensive, while still preparing the system for a future enforcement moment.

“Only two steps” required to make Bitcoin quantum-resistant?

In this @Unchained_pod episode, @TheBlueMatt joins me to discuss:

Why he thinks Nic Carter is wrong about the quantum threat to Bitcoin Why he disagrees with Nic on his ranking of Bitcoin’s most influential… pic.twitter.com/2r2g42myJD

— Laura Shin (@laurashin) February 22, 2026

The ‘Nobody Is Working On It’ Narrative

Corallo also disputed the idea that Bitcoin development circles are ignoring the issue. He pointed to research and engineering work at organizations including Blockstream Research and Chaincode Labs, cited Ethan Heilman and co-authors working on BIP 360, and said post-quantum discussion on the Bitcoin developer mailing list has grown steadily.

At one point, he said mailing-list discussion has risen to “30 or 40%” of posts, describing that as evidence of sustained attention rather than neglect.

Corallo did not argue the problem is trivial. He acknowledged migration of active wallets could take years and said critics are right that the social and market consequences of disabling insecure spend paths would be contentious. But his central claim was narrower: Bitcoin does not need a fully finalized end-state today to begin meaningful preparation now.

At press time, BTC traded at $65,953.

Crypto pundit BULLRUNNERS has alleged that SWIFT is already adopting Ripple’s payment technology, which includes XRP. The pundit also claimed that banking giant HSBC is involved in this partnership as a managing partner of SWIFT’s multi-chain blockchain ledger. 

Crypto Pundit Alleges SWIFT Has Integrated Ripple’s XRP Payments

In an X post, BULLRUNNERS claimed that SWIFT is already adopting Ripple’s payment technology as part of its new payment stack. This came as he alluded to reports that SWIFT is set to launch a multi-chain ledger, having named XRP-embracing HSBC as a managing partner. The pundit noted that HSBC already has a history of using Ripple’s XRP Ledger through Metaco, which is owned by Ripple. 

BULLRUNNERS also alleged that SWIFT has been testing XRP on its payment rails since the fourth quarter of last year. Meanwhile, the pundit highlighted a statement from SWIFT’s CEO, Javier Pérez-Tasso, in which he suggested that traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) could go hand in hand under a future regulatory framework. 

BULLRUNNERS also raised the possibility of JPMorgan, the world’s largest U.S. bank, adopting Ripple’s payment through its partnership with SWIFT. He noted that this could be a major move for the Ledger if it were to occur, and one that could bring a large number of institutional and retail investors into the XRP ecosystem.

The pundit also alluded to the newly integrated Permissioned DEX feature on the Ledger, which aims to create a regulated and compliant environment for institutions to trade. BULLRUNNERS stated that it is no coincidence that the Ledger is integrating this feature now, as it looks to onboard these institutional investors, including major banks. 

The Ledger Set To Also Benefit From The Tokenization Wave

Crypto pundit ChartNerd has highlighted how the XRP Ledger could benefit from the tokenization wave and not just banks’ integration of Ripple’s payments. He noted that the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) plans to tokenize its entire assets under management (AuM) in the long term. The firm plans to do this in collaboration with several layer 1 and 2 networks. 

ChartNerd stated that this is where Ripple comes in with the acquisition of Hidden Road, as this provides the crypto firm with directional access to the U.S. Treasury market through the DTCC. He added that this creates a pathway for XRP and RLUSD to be introduced into the institutional settlement process. At the same time, he predicts that the Ledger will be the leading layer-1 network for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and will continue to grow despite market volatility.

At the time of writing, the altcoin price is trading at around $1.33, down over 6% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

In a significant development that could shape the finance sector, Ripple, a leading American-based payment company, has disclosed its financial ambitions, which signal a growing banking powerhouse. With this move, the firm is extending its global reach in the crypto and financial landscape, reinforcing its modern-day banking infrastructure.

A Bid From Ripple To Reshape Global Banking

Ripple is taking the spotlight after an update about the firm’s latest move that underscores its financial ambitions. The company is progressively growing its global presence and establishing the foundation for what is beginning to seem like a modern digital banking empire.

By forming strategic alliances, gaining regulatory approval, and building infrastructure in important financial areas, the business is putting itself in a position to lead institutional blockchain adoption and cross-border payments. Pumpius, a crypto expert and investor, stated that Ripple is bringing together the full institutional stack in a similar pattern to how banks do it, one regulated component at a time.

The expert has also underlined the firm’s acquisitions in recent years, which tells a story. This is evidenced by the firm’s acquisition of Metaco and Hidden Road. While Metaco gave the firm institutional custody rails, Hidden Road has added prime brokerage-grade execution, financing, and access to real market plumbing. As a result of this, Ripple’s rail plugs into high-volume payment distribution.

While several prices are displayed to the public, some of them are not. However, the trajectory is clear, which is indicated by custody payments, prime brokerage, and treasury infrastructure under one roof. With the inclusion of the OCC Trust bank angle, Ripple is already moving through the United States banking pathway, generating conditional approvals observed among firms in that field. 

This is considered the cheat code. Getting involved with the regulated perimeter leads to a barrier to permission, and a company becomes the system that institutions are allowed to use.

As the payment builds a banking stack, February 26 stands as a crucial date in its journey. On the day, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is scheduled to announce its decision in a Federal Register proceeding linked to a proposed T Rowe Price crypto Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF). “That is the calendar of when traditional allocators get clearer lanes,” Pumpius added.

Long Positions In XRP Are Heating Up Once Again

With excitement surrounding several updates of Ripple, investors appear to be doubling down on XRP again. Interest in the altcoin has improved over the past few days, as long positions in the leading altcoin are reemerging at a fast rate.

Using data from Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange leader, CW has disclosed a rapid increase in XRP positions from top traders. When investors start to open longs again, it may suggest that they are positioning ahead of a potential bounce.

CW noted that these traders were previously positioned heavily on the short side, but the chart shows that they are now becoming neutral. As a result of the renewed conviction, the expert believes that XRP will soon regain the upper hand.