Within the XRP Ledger community, debate has emerged over what will drive the 
cryptocurrency’s utility: regulatory changes or infrastructure developments?

XRP community debates Infrastructure vs. Policy for token utility

Reports note that retail investors have been hopping from one market to 
another this month, following whatever asset is moving the most. Social 
chatter about gold and silver has outpaced crypto on many days, based on 
Santiment’s social data. That doesn’t mean crypto is dead. Far from it. But 
right now the spotlight has been on metals, and chatter often moves faster 
than prices. Related Reading: Record Pain: Bitcoin Investors Suffer $4.5B 
Loss, Most In 3 Years Retail Chatter Follows Price Moves According to 
Santiment, gold jumped in interest during the second week of January when it 
set fresh highs. Social feeds lit up. Traders talked about gains, charts, and 
quick flips. Then, around Jan. 19 to Jan. 22, crypto briefly reclaimed 
attention as some traders looked to buy dips in falling markets. The pattern 
shows how fast attention can switch. One minute one market rules the feeds. 
The next minute another does. 😴 Are crypto traders &amp; investors checked out? 
Based on social data across crypto social media circles, the focus in January 
has turned from: 💤 Week 1: Minimal discourse as traders return from holidays 
(Crypto rises while traders sleep) 🥇 Week 2: Gold discussions erupt as the… 
pic.twitter.com/U5X0VzAGPb — Santiment (@santimentfeed) January 26, 2026 
Search Trends Paint A Shifting Picture Based on Google Trends data, crypto 
searches hit a high point on Jan. 21, with Bitcoin scoring 100 on one day and 
dipping to lower levels over the weekend. Silver’s search interest peaked on 
Jan. 22. Reports note people were searching for phrases like “Silver price 
today,” “best crypto,” and “Bitcoin price.” That mix suggests casual users and 
new traders are toggling between simple how-to queries and price checks, 
depending on which asset is making headlines. Silver’s Wild Ride Warns Of Hype 
Santiment’s team pointed to a dramatic move in silver where prices briefly 
jumped above $117 and then plunged to below $102 within a couple of hours. 
That kind of swing is a classic sign of strong FOMO followed by fast selling. 
Retail excitement can lift a price quickly. It can also reverse it just as 
fast. Many traders who piled in at the peak likely felt the sting when the 
pullback came. Parallels Between Metals And Crypto Coach JV, a popular XRP 
commentator, argued that the forces acting on silver and gold could also shape 
Bitcoin and XRP when the same pressures build in those markets. What’s 
happening in silver will happen to Bitcoin and XRP. Paper markets suppress 
price… until reality breaks them. No timeline. No hype. When it snaps, it 
won’t rise slowly; it will reprice violently. — Coach, JV (@Coachjv_) January 
26, 2026 He warned that if paper markets finally loosen their grip, repricing 
could be sharp. No dates were offered. The point was clear: a sudden shift can 
move prices quickly and surprise a lot of people. Related Reading: PayPal 
Survey: 4 In 10 US Merchants Now Accept Crypto Short-term traders will watch 
social feeds and search trends closely. Long-term investors should be aware 
that spikes driven by hype rarely end quietly. While the current buzz is about 
precious metals, history shows attention can swing back to crypto fast — 
sometimes in as little as a few days. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from 
TradingView

Gold, Silver Steal The Spotlight As Crypto Hype Fades On Social Media: Santiment

Robert Kiyosaki expressed regret over selling bitcoin, calling it a mistake as 
he reaffirmed plans to accumulate more BTC and hard assets amid currency 
debasement concerns and long-term distrust of fiat money. Robert Kiyosaki 
Confirms Bitcoin Conviction After Calling Sale a Mistake Rich Dad Poor Dad 
author Robert Kiyosaki shared on social media platform X […]

Robert Kiyosaki Regrets Selling Bitcoin, Says Window Open to Buy More BTC

Strive has now become one of the top 10 largest corporate Bitcoin holders, 
with a treasury of 13,132 BTC, worth $1.17 billion.

Strive buys 334 BTC, shaves most debt from Semler Scientific deal

A fresh debate in the XRP Ledger (XRPL) community is converging on a specific 
“golden ticket” thesis: XRP’s breakout utility case won’t come from 
narratives, but from plumbing: Ripple’s regulated payments stack sourcing 
liquidity directly from the on-chain XRPL DEX, and Ripple Prime settling 
institutional flow on-ledger. The XRP Golden Ticket Theory The idea surfaced 
in an exchange on X after one user, Alex Cobb, a well-known commentator within 
the XRP community, argued that US market-structure legislation, the CLARITY 
Act, is “XRPs golden ticket.” Another renowned community member, 
Krippenreiter, pushed the focus back on product rails rather than policy 
catalysts: “Personally I think Ripple Payments sourcing liquidity from the 
onchain XRPL DEX and Ripple Prime settling post trade on the XRP Ledger are 
XRPs golden tickets.” Personally I think Ripple Payments sourcing liquidity 
from the onchain XRPL DEX and Ripple Prime settling post trade on the XRP 
Ledger are XRPs golden tickets. (Long-term view 🫡) https://t.co/DOkLdsH1oo — 
Krippenreiter (@krippenreiter) January 27, 2026 Krippenreiter clarified that 
the phrasing tracks what Ripple has previously messaged about how it intends 
to use the XRPL in institutional contexts. “The ideal is to do everything on- 
chain, so yes. Anything happening on-chain settles on XRPL,” they wrote, 
adding: “I said ‘post-trade settlement’ because that’s what Ripple initially 
publicly stated for what they plan on using XRPL for.” Related Reading: XRP 
Funding Rates And Spot Volume Tell An Interesting Story For Price That 
distinction matters because routing liquidity through a public DEX, especially 
for regulated entities, creates a different compliance surface than using a 
ledger as a settlement layer after execution happens elsewhere. In the thread, 
attorney Bill Morgan framed the gating issue bluntly: “Eventually, once it can 
source liquidity from the XRPL DEX without risk of regulatory non-compliance.” 
Others pointed to Permissioned Domains and a permissioned DEX construct as the 
major blocker for regulated liquidity sourcing, with Krippenreiter describing 
“credentials,” “permissioned domain,” and “permissioned dex” as the solution 
set. Morgan noted the implication extends beyond Ripple: if that’s a blocker 
for Ripple, “it will be a block for any other institution that may wish to use 
the XRPL DEX.” Notably, the Permissioned Domains amendment is on track to go 
live next week, XRPScan shows 27 of 34 validator votes (88.24% consensus) and 
an estimated activation time of Feb. 4, 2026 at 09:57:51 UTC, provided it 
remains above the required threshold through the enablement window. The same 
thread pulled Ripple Prime into the picture. Luke Judges (middle management at 
Ripple) said, “Prime underrated, we need more CEXs to support XRPL inventory. 
Working on it.” Related Reading: XRP Ledger Congestion Could Burn 1 Billion 
Coins A Year, Developer Claims Krippenreiter suggested that, beyond exchange 
inventory, privacy could be the other hard prerequisite for Prime’s deeper 
XRPL integration, calling it “the blocker” in circulating rumors. That maps 
onto Ripple’s own public framing: in an October 2 post, Ripple engineering 
leader J. Ayo Akinyele argued that “finance cannot function without 
confidentiality, yet blockchains are built on transparency,” and that 
institutional-grade adoption requires privacy that still supports compliance. 
Akinyele put the institutional constraint in plain terms: “Without privacy, 
financial institutions cannot safely use public ledgers for core workflows. 
Without accountability, regulators cannot sign off. With programmable privacy, 
we can have both.” The discussion landed just as Ripple and GTreasury rolled 
out “Ripple Treasury,” positioning it as enterprise treasury infrastructure 
that blends traditional cash operations with digital-asset rails. At press 
time, XRP traded at $1.9256. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from 
TradingView.com

Cryptocurrency price in NOK