XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) has spent most of 2026 trading below $1.50, waiting on one piece of legislation that could permanently change its legal standing in the United States. That wait cleared a major hurdle on May 14, when the Senate Banking Committee passed the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act in a 15-9 bipartisan vote, and XRP jumped to $1.54 before pulling back to the $1.33 range where it trades today.
The full Senate and a presidential signature are still ahead, but the question XRP investors are asking is what this bill actually does to the long-term price once it becomes law.
XRP Price Performance Amid the Ongoing CLARITY Act
For the past few months, XRP has been grinding between $1.30 and $1.50, a range that has held every breakout attempt since February. As of press time, XRP is trading at $1.33, down roughly 27% year-to-date.
The CLARITY Act has been the dominant force behind that price action, with bears defending the $1.45 resistance because the bill’s route to becoming law remained uncertain. When the Senate Banking Committee finally passed it on May 14, XRP spiked to $1.54 within hours. The move was sharp, but it didn’t hold, as the token pulled back once traders realized a committee vote is still a long way from a presidential signature.
XRP ETFs still attracted $9.47 million in fresh capital on May 22, outperforming both Bitcoin and Ethereum funds, which saw outflows that same week. Total net inflows across U.S. spot XRP products have now crossed $1.41 billion. Institutional buyers have been accumulating through the uncertainty, and that matters more than the short-term price chart right now.
How The CLARITY Act Could Impact XRP’s Long-Term Price
The SEC and CFTC jointly classified XRP as a digital commodity on March 17, 2026, but that classification is an interpretive release, not statute. A future administration could reverse it. Banks, custodians, and large asset managers have stayed on the sidelines not because they lack interest in XRP, but because an administrative ruling is not the same legal foundation that federal law provides.
The CLARITY Act would write the commodity classification permanently into federal statute and move XRP’s jurisdiction from the SEC to the CFTC, the same agency that regulates oil, gold, and wheat. That shift is the entire mechanism behind the institutional-capital argument for XRP’s long-term price.
The ETF inflow data shows how much that capital is worth. Five U.S. spot XRP ETFs launched between November and December 2025 and have already pulled in $1.41 billion without the CLARITY Act as law. So, an additional $4 to $8 billion could flow in from institutional capital currently waiting on permanent legal cover.
On price targets, Standard Chartered’s bullish forecast is $8.00 by year-end if the bill passes and inflows reach $10 billion, against a base projection of $2.80. Bitwise and Bitrue Research are more conservative, targeting between $2.50 and $4.94.
Key Factors XRP Investors Should Watch After the CLARITY Act Update
The Senate floor vote is the most important variable right now. The full Senate needs 60 votes under cloture rules, and only two Democrats crossed over at the committee stage. Galaxy Research’s Alex Thorn outlined a timeline pointing to a potential Trump signature by early August, warning that Congress has only nine working weeks of Senate floor time before the August recess. If Senate leadership doesn’t move the calendar in June, that August window closes fast.
Weekly ETF inflows are the second signal to track. Inflows have moved in step with legislative progress all year, cooling when the bill stalled and recovering after May 14. A sustained return to the $28 million weekly pace seen in early May would confirm institutional buyers are repositioning ahead of a floor vote.
Bitcoin’s direction matters too. XRP showed rare decoupling strength on May 14, but that has a ceiling. A hard Bitcoin move toward $70,000 would drag XRP back toward its $1.28-$1.30 support regardless of where the bill stands.
What’s Next for XRP?
Most of the conversation around XRP right now is locked on the CLARITY Act, but there is a second development that could matter just as much for the long-term price. On May 19, President Trump signed an executive order asking the Federal Reserve to review crypto firms’ access to its payment infrastructure, with Ripple among the three firms named.
A Federal Reserve master account would let Ripple settle transactions directly through Fedwire and FedNow, cutting out the commercial banks it currently depends on as intermediaries. If the CLARITY Act passes and Ripple secures that master account, analysts project XRP could push toward the $5 range.
The bill isn’t law yet, but the direction is clear, and historically, the gap between legislative certainty and price discovery has not been a long one.
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