The XRP Ledger registered a significant burst of network activity, with 4,300 new wallets created in a single 24-hour period on May 21, according to on-chain data. The surge marks the fourth-largest daily increase in new XRP wallets so far in 2026, signaling a potential shift in user engagement for the asset.
"Network growth is among the top leading signals to identify reversals," on-chain analytics firm Santiment reported in a May 22 analysis that highlighted the spike. The firm tracks new address creation as a measure of whether new capital and participants are entering an ecosystem, rather than existing holders merely shuffling tokens among themselves.
This metric is particularly crucial for XRP, whose value proposition is closely tied to network adoption. While the 4,300-wallet surge is smaller than the 21,000 new wallets created over a 48-hour window in November 2025, it stands out as a notable event in a year of otherwise steady growth. Historically, such spikes in new wallet activation, which requires committing capital to the network, have often preceded periods of increased trading activity.
The on-chain growth comes as XRP’s price performance has lagged its large-cap peers. As of May 21, XRP was trading around $1.36, with a 90-day return of -3.31%. Over the same period, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 14.79% and Ethereum (ETH) rose 8.80%. Analysts have pointed to XRP's tendency to give back gains after catalyst-driven rallies as a primary reason for its underperformance.
For investors, the question is whether this growth in new users can translate into the sustained buying pressure XRP has been lacking. The network is seeing fundamental growth in other areas, with tokenized real-world assets on the ledger recently surpassing $3 billion. However, turning a one-day data point into a sustained trend will likely require a combination of continued user adoption and a positive outcome from external catalysts, such as the pending CLARITY Act, which could provide regulatory certainty in the US market.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
