This year, XRP has become one of its institutional and technical legitimacy from a position of regulatory uncertainty. This combination of factors led to the ecosystem winning one of the busiest years and hosting events around the world.
Since Ripple resolved its fight against the SEC, XRP’s non-security status has eliminated the major legal overhangs that curb US adoption. Since then, its market performance has improved, and Ripple has found a way to capitalize on profits.
From legal blockades to global adoption
This year, it’s packed with XRP ledger (XRPL) calendars. Since January, the ecosystem has hosted 19 events around the world, from meetups in Greece to summits in Seoul to boot camps in Paris and workshops in Germany.
One thing we know about the XRP community anywhere in the world is that they exist!
Great congratulations to the @xrpseoul team at the first event. We at @ripple are absolutely looking forward to the next event. https://t.co/g2w0zchnqv
– Blood Girlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) September 25, 2025
The enthusiasm the community organizes these events is closely aligned with the specific levels of success the ecosystem has seen this year.
Earlier this year, Ripple’s resolution of legal battle with the SEC in 2020 opened the doors of significant institutional capital access and accelerated network development. The removal of this regulation tension quickly paved the way for the launch of institutional products.
Submissions and subsequent launches of Spot XRP Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) from well-known asset managers such as Rex-Sosprey and Grayscale Investments have introduced significant institutional liquidity and mainstream acceptance.
This development officially categorized XRP as a recognized asset class along with other established cryptocurrencies.
Meanwhile, blockchain itself has also made significant technological advances.
Technological leap
In the first half of 2025, XRP Ledger successfully launched the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Sidechain.
This technical milestone greatly improved the utility of XRPL, combining the speed, efficiency and low transaction costs of XRPL with the versatility and network effects of the broader Ethereum debt and the DAPP community.
The need for smart contracts in XRP is Cristal clear. Almost 1.4k smart contracts deployed on the mainnet in just a week🙃pic.twitter.com/bqsxwnbwlw
– Peersyst Technology (@Peersyst) July 7, 2025
The move created strong, immediate developer demand, with nearly 1,400 smart contracts rolling out in the first week of the launch. Shortly afterwards, the ecosystem total value locked (TVL) reached an all-time high of $120 million.
The impact of the 2025 breakthrough is in great contrast to the regulatory uncertainty of past years.
Past constraints and keys to long-term success
Many of the XRPL breakthroughs would not have been possible without the open familiarity of the current administration over Crypto and the SEC fall in the lawsuit against Ripple.
During this legal pilgrimage, most major US crypto exchanges listed XRP, excluded almost all regulated system participation over four years. The measure isolated assets from the world’s largest and most compliant financial markets.
Throughout this period, long-term litigation created bottlenecks that curbed institutional benefits. This context has resulted in poor performance for XRP despite established use cases for the underlying network.
The reality of XRPL is now drawing another picture, but the market is still adapting to the latest breakthroughs in the ecosystem. Long-term success depends heavily on sustainable utilities.
Measuring this success will focus on major institutional projects that will fully migrate into the chain, maintain developer incentives and develop real-world applications.
Post-XRP ledger first appeared in Beincrypto in 2025 at ETFS, EVM Sidechain and Global Events.
