Senate Banking Committee plans April CLARITY Act markup, lifting XRP prospects

XRP drops 5% to ~$1.43; bulls eye CLARITY Act, ETFs, bank adoption

XRP fell about 5% to roughly $1.43 on Wednesday amid a broad crypto pullback. Traders cited geopolitical tensions and a lack of new catalysts.

Analysts still see upside if Washington delivers policy clarity.

• Key catalyst: Passage of the US CLARITY Act could formally classify XRP as a digital commodity, putting it on footing similar to Bitcoin and Ethereum.
• Institutional use: Sam Daodu (24/7 Wall St.) argues this is the top driver to break resistance, enabling US banks to use XRP on Ripple rails without reclassification risk and boosting confidence in investment products like ETFs source source.
• Price targets: Standard Chartered’s Geoffrey Kendrick keeps an $8 target for 2026 if the bill passes and models $4–8 billion of cumulative ETF inflows by year-end source.
• Consensus ranges: Daodu cites a $5–$10 path post-legislation, with $8 implying ~$490B market cap if banks use XRP for payments rather than retail trading only source.
• Upside scenario: If CLARITY passes and Ripple secures a Federal Reserve “master account” by late 2026, some models see $15–$30 under full bank adoption source.
• Hill status: The bill passed the House in July 2025 and advanced through Senate Agriculture on Jan 29; Sen. Cynthia Lummis said Banking “plans to mark up the bill in April” after Easter recess source.