September 15: The Crash, and What's at Stake for XRP
September 16: bottom before the rate hike
September 17: sideways price action and the approach of the Ledger update
What the Batch V1.1 update does and the reason for a partial rebuild
What it Means
Part of a seriesXRP had the biggest move of them all this week. Tuesday's downtick closed at $1.2835. Friday, however, saw the biggest move in the other direction as the price of XRP rose 7.69% to $1.3963.
Much like other cryptocurrencies this week, Tuesday was XRP's worst day of the week. XRP touched an intraday high of $1.4563 that same day before selling off, and the price fell even further the next day, touching an intraday low of $1.2516 on Wednesday.
There are a few reasons why Tuesday, September 15, 2026, was more newsworthy for XRP than other cryptocurrencies. First, March 2026 was when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) jointly stated their position about XRP, classifying it as a digital commodity. The CLARITY Act, if passed into law, would have required that classification to be codified into statute rather than resting on agency interpretation. Second, the CLARITY Act would have reinforced a 2023 court ruling that XRP is not a security, giving that ruling firmer, nationwide legal footing. The CLARITY Act failed to advance by a 49 to 50 vote. Immediately following the vote, XRP declined by 9.80% to $1.2835, its lowest close since early September. The price fell to an intraday low of $1.2658 that same day.
We saw an intraday low of $1.2516 before recovering to close at $1.2991, a 1.22% gain. Wednesday also marked the Federal Reserve's first rate hike since 2023. ETFs saw $3.5 million in inflows, all of which went to the XRPZ fund offered by Franklin Templeton.
Another small loss brought XRP to an intraday low of $1.2876 before closing at $1.2966, a 0.20% loss. ETFs saw $5.15 million in outflows, the most of the week. In the background, Ripple's 14-day countdown to the activation of the XRP Ledger's Batch feature, which allows bundling of up to 8 transactions, continued to build validator support toward the threshold it needed.
September 18: the beginning of a larger move
A broader market rally helped XRP rise 7.69% to $1.3963 and surpass the psychologically important $1.40 level. The Batch feature itself was still mid-countdown and had not yet reached its activation window. Validator support remained strong, but the 14-day approval period was still running its course. ETFs saw a small outflow of $43,699.
XRP/USD daily closes, 15 to 20 September 2026
US Spot XRP ETF net daily flows, September 15-18, 2026
The Batch V1.1 update of the XRP Ledger enables atomic grouping of up to 8 individual transactions. So, if a group of 8 transactions is atomically bundled, all 8 of them will be successful; otherwise, they will be unsuccessful and revert to their initial state. One of the salient features of the update is that it enables delivery-versus-payment (DvP) trades. Without this feature, there is a risk of leaving a trade open and exposed in the case of a failure of the counterparty's trade. The initial attempt to add this feature to the XRP Ledger, Batch V1.0, was removed by Ripple prior to its release to the main network in February 2026, due to a signature-verification issue. As part of the update process to add this feature to the main network, RippleX undertook a comprehensive review of the code, similar to a bug-bounty process, and engaged the services of two external firms to conduct an audit of the code before getting it approved by validators. Currently, 30 of the 35 validators of the XRP Ledger have approved the code update. The code update is slated to go live shortly after September 29, 2026, if it receives the required 80% support from the validators during the 14-day approval window that started on September 15, 2026.
On Wednesday, the price of XRP dipped to an intraday low of $1.2516. That makes $1.2516 the true floor for the week, the lowest price XRP touched at any point. The ceiling for the week is $1.4563, the intraday high XRP touched on Tuesday, before the CLARITY Act result sent the price sharply lower the same day. Since Tuesday, no price has been able to clear $1.4563, even though that same session produced the week's worst close. As of now, there has not been a fund outflow for Solana this week; its ETFs stayed positive throughout, there has been a small net outflow for XRP. The CLARITY Act was proposed to provide more clarity for the interpretation of laws that remain unclear around digital assets. It was proposed as legislation to help cover loopholes left by the lack of a clear statutory ruling from Congress itself, distinct from agency interpretation or court precedent.
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