Mastercard is expanding its presence around the XRP Ledger ecosystem at a time when XRP is struggling to hold onto a sharp August rally.
The payments company has joined the upcoming XRP Ledger Hackathon in New York as a sponsor, according to XRPL Commons. The 36-hour event is scheduled for Oct. 24–25, immediately before Ripple’s Swell conference, and will focus on areas including protocol development, agentic finance and lending.
The sponsorship is notable because Mastercard’s involvement with Ripple-linked infrastructure extends well beyond a developer event. In June, the company said it would broaden its settlement capabilities to regulated stablecoins, including Ripple USD, or RLUSD, across several networks including the XRP Ledger.
Ripple and Mastercard had already announced a separate initiative involving WebBank and Gemini to explore RLUSD-based settlement for card transactions on XRPL. The project remains an exploration rather than a confirmed commercial rollout.
XRP Gives Back Part of Its August Rally
The stronger institutional narrative has not prevented XRP from falling with the wider crypto market.
XRP traded around $1.38–$1.39 on Aug. 29, after slipping below the $1.40 level. Historical trading data show the token reached as high as $1.70 on Aug. 22 before momentum weakened. The Aug. 29 session produced a low near $1.36, making that area an immediate technical level for traders.
The pullback follows a powerful rebound earlier in August. Large XRP holders added roughly 190 million tokens in one day during the breakout, while XRP Ledger activity approached 1.9 million daily transactions, according to recent whale data.
That accumulation helped strengthen momentum, but the market now faces a more difficult test as broader risk appetite weakens.
ETF Demand Remains a Key Support
Institutional flows continue to provide a counterweight to the price correction.
U.S. spot XRP ETFs recently recorded their strongest week in more than three months, with cumulative net inflows reaching approximately $1.55 billion. Funds attracted $39.78 million during that week, including $18.38 million in a single Friday session, according to ETF flows.
[CHART — PLACE HERE]
XRP price vs. spot XRP ETF inflows. Plot XRP’s daily price against U.S. ETF net flows through late August. The chart should emphasize that ETF buying remained positive even as XRP retreated from its weekly peak.
That divergence makes the next price levels important. A recovery above $1.43–$1.45 would improve the short-term structure, while a decisive break below $1.36 could expose the $1.30 area.
For investors looking beyond short-term price action, XRP remains closely tied to the XRP Ledger’s role in payments and settlement. Coinpaper’s evergreen XRP guide outlines how the asset is used within that infrastructure.
Mastercard’s growing XRPL exposure strengthens the institutional-use narrative, but it does not guarantee higher XRP prices. For now, ETF demand, the $1.36 support zone and broader crypto-market conditions are likely to determine whether August’s rally can resume.
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