Key Insights:
- XRP news: Peter Brandt says he would immediately convert 500,000 XRP into Bitcoin if given the choice.
- XRP price falls below $1, trading at $0.9980 with volume down 57.33%.
- Brandt’s latest comments revive his long-standing criticism of XRP after a brief 2024 shift.
XRP news took a fresh turn on August 16 after veteran trader Peter Brandt said he would immediately convert a hypothetical holding of 500,000 XRP into Bitcoin.
Brandt made the remarks while responding to a challenge about his views on XRP on X, reiterating that he has little interest in holding the token.
His comments came as TradingView showed XRP price trading below the psychologically important $1 level, adding another development to a difficult session for the token.
XRP News: Peter Brandt Rejects Large XRP Holding
Brandt said he would not want to retain a position of 500,000 XRP and would instead convert it to Bitcoin immediately. He also said that he conducts his betting on futures, adding that he would question whether a person who lost a bet would be able to make the payment.
The comments followed a discussion on X about Brandt’s long-standing position on XRP. The veteran trader has repeatedly criticized cryptocurrency and has clashed with members of the XRP community over his views.
Brandt’s latest remarks on XRP news therefore continue a position he has expressed publicly for several years, although his stance briefly changed in late 2024.
XRP Price Falls Below $1
The latest XRP price data showed the token trading at $0.9980 on August 16, down 0.37% over 24 hours. CoinGecko data showed that XRP’s market capitalization stood at approximately $62.55 billion.
The chart showed XRP moving above $1.004 before heading lower again. The selling pressure then pushed the token toward $0.9980 near the end of the displayed period.
The trading activity also declined during the session. XRP’s 24-hour volume stood at $437.26 million, representing a 57.33% decrease. The volume-to-market-cap ratio was 0.6942%, while the fully diluted valuation reached $99.8 billion.
The token also declined by about 72.6% from its all-time high in July 2025, based on the information provided.
Peter Brandt’s Changing XRP Position
Brandt has previously taken several strong positions against XRP. In June 2020, he described XRP as a manipulated scam, while later comparing Ripple’s relationship with XRP to the Federal Reserve’s relationship with the U.S. dollar.
He also previously referred to Ripple as XRP’s “bag holder” and compared the token with the Edsel, a vehicle associated with one of the biggest failures in automotive history.
His position on XRP news softened temporarily in late 2024. In November that year, Brandt noted that XRP had moved above its 2023 high and highlighted what he described as a “massive coil” as the token rallied.
That shift did not last. In March 2025, Brandt warned that XRP could decline toward $1.07 if a bearish head-and-shoulders pattern developed.
His latest comments return to his earlier preference for Bitcoin over XRP as the cryptocurrency approaches the $1 threshold. For XRP, the immediate market data shows continued pressure below that level alongside a sharp decline in reported trading volume.
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