XRP surged 543% in late 2024 and 60% in summer 2025, then pulled back; on January 6, 2026 it hit $2.35 and was at $1.95 on January 22, up 4.09% year-to-date but down 16.81% from that high. Near-term levels cluster at $1.97 and $2 for resistance and $1.78 for support, while a January 21 release from Evernorth and t54 outlined a $1 billion plan for an XRP treasury and AI on the XRP Ledger.

On January 20, GJL Research analyst Gordon Johnson used X to answer why Bitcoin’s price has been falling while gold has been climbing, arguing that BTC and other cryptocurrencies have "ZERO value." He pointed to Bitcoin’s lack of clear utility, its inability to function as a real currency due to fixed supply, the view that most cryptocurrencies are unregistered securities under the CLARITY Act, and the historical failures of private money. Over the same period, Bitcoin dropped from about $95,000 to roughly $89,000, while gold advanced from around $4,550 to near $4,860, which Johnson contrasted with gold’s long-standing role as a store of value.

On January 18, 2026, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson publicly criticized Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse for supporting the U.S. CLARITY Act, highlighting deep divisions within the crypto industry over the bill. Garlinghouse had praised the legislation in a January 14 post, while Hoskinson and other executives, including Coinbase's Brian Armstrong, warned it would expand SEC power and restrict tokenized assets and stablecoin rewards.

Bitcoin reversed late on Sunday, January 18, and was trading at $93,013 by Monday, January 19. Finbold's machine learning models run on January 19, after assessing six indicators, project a 1.6% rise to $94,500 by January 31, 2026, with individual outputs spanning $92,500 to $97,501.

Late on Sunday, January 18, the crypto market reversed sharply, erasing roughly $100 billion in about 12 hours by press time on January 19. Total capitalization fell from near $3.2 trillion to around $3.09 trillion, then partially rebounded to $3.1 trillion. Bitcoin dropped 3% to $92,762, while Ethereum fell 4.16% and XRP declined 4%.

On January 14, 2026, Stellar (XLM) gained 8.99% in 24 hours to trade at $0.244, while XRP slipped 0.71% to $2.15 after recently reaching a yearly peak above $2.41. XLM's move followed Bitcoin's rise above $95,000 and earlier January news of Visa integrating the Stellar network, though the token remains below its 2026 high of $0.28 and significantly lower on six- and twelve-month timeframes.

Silver hit a new all-time high at $84, and on January 11, 2026, Robert Kiyosaki wrote on X that he would buy the metal up to $100 before pausing to wait and see. He still views $80 as a buying level while urging caution at the $100 mark. Bloomberg's Mike McGlone likewise projects a move to $100 and then a retrace toward $50 during 2026.

At the very start of 2026, XRP surged about 30% before sliding 7.48% in 24 hours, prompting a fresh look at its short-term outlook. Based on this backdrop, ChatGPT outlined a base-case scenario with XRP at $2.15 on January 31, 2026, slightly above the current $2.08 level. Over a longer horizon for 2026, the model suggested the token could climb to roughly $5 if recent positive momentum and supportive factors persist.

A Polymarket profile labeled 0x8dxd launched a trading bot in December 2025 with $313 to place directional bets on major cryptocurrencies. By January 6, the bot had posted an approximately 98% win rate and about $437,600 in profit, lifting the bankroll to roughly $438,000, according to Polymarket's interface.