The History of XRP: From 2012 to Today
8 min read · Updated 2025-01-20
Before the beginning: 2011-2012
XRP didn't start with Ripple. It started with a programmer named Jed McCaleb (who also created Mt. Gox and later Stellar). In 2011, McCaleb began working on a digital currency system that didn't rely on mining. He brought in David Schwartz and Arthur Britto, and together they built the XRP Ledger.
The XRP Ledger went live in June 2012 — a full three years before Ethereum launched.
The Ripple era: 2012-2017
Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb co-founded Ripple Labs (originally OpenCoin) in 2012. The company received 80 billion of the 100 billion XRP created at genesis. Their mission: make international payments as easy as sending an email.
Key milestones:
- 2012: XRP Ledger launches, Ripple Labs founded
- 2013: Ripple raises angel funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed, and others; follows up with a $3.5M seed round later that year
- 2014: Jed McCaleb leaves to start Stellar. Drama ensues over his XRP holdings
- 2015: Ripple fined $700K by FinCEN — but this was actually a win because it established XRP as a "virtual currency," not a security
- 2016: Ripple gets a BitLicense in New York, starts signing bank partnerships
- 2017: XRP explodes from $0.006 to $0.25, then to $3.84 in the 2017 bull run
The crash and quiet building: 2018-2020
After hitting nearly $4 in January 2018, XRP crashed back to $0.25 by the end of the year. The entire crypto market collapsed, but XRP's drop was especially brutal.
During this period, Ripple kept building:
- Signed hundreds of banking partnerships
- Launched On-Demand Liquidity (ODL), which actually uses XRP for cross-border payments
- Became one of the most well-funded crypto companies
The SEC lawsuit: December 2020
On December 22, 2020, the SEC sued Ripple, alleging that XRP was an unregistered security. The price dropped 70% in days. Major exchanges delisted XRP. It looked like the end.
But Ripple fought back — and the case became the most important crypto legal battle in US history.
The resolution: 2023-2025
In July 2023, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP is not a security when sold on public exchanges. This was a landmark ruling for the entire crypto industry.
In August 2024, the court imposed a $125 million fine on Ripple for institutional sales. In May 2025, Ripple and the SEC reached a final $50 million settlement, both sides dropped their appeals, and the case officially closed. Crucially, XRP's status as a non-security on public exchanges was affirmed. Exchanges relisted XRP. The price surged.
Where XRP stands now
XRP consistently ranks in the top 5-7 cryptocurrencies by market cap. Ripple's ODL product processes billions in cross-border payments. The company has expanded into CBDCs, tokenization, and DeFi on the XRP Ledger.
The legal clarity XRP now has is something most other cryptocurrencies don't. Whether that translates into price performance is another question entirely.