The XRP Ledger (XRPL) has seen a sharp decline in daily payment activity, with the number of payments dropping by more than 80% from the network's peak in May 2026. The slowdown comes as the wider cryptocurrency market remains under pressure, reducing investor confidence and on-chain activity.

Data from XRPScan, a blockchain explorer for the XRP Ledger, shows that payment activity has reached its lowest level in about nine months. The decline has happened alongside weaker XRP prices and lower network usage.

What the Latest XRPL Data Shows

The XRP Ledger is a blockchain network designed to process fast and low-cost payments. One of its key activity metrics is the number of daily payments, which measures transfers made between accounts on the network.

According to XRPScan data, daily payments fell to 325,888 on Saturday, July 18, 2026. This is the lowest level recorded since October 2, 2025, when payment activity briefly dropped to 28,760 during an unusual market event.

After that October decline, daily payments stayed above 500,000 for several months. Activity remained relatively stable until late June 2026, when it slipped to around 400,000 before falling further in July.

The following day, payment volume recovered slightly to 327,497, but it still remained below the 400,000 level.

Daily Payments Have Dropped More Than 80%

The latest figures highlight the scale of the slowdown across the network.

Daily payments are now down 80.7% from the 1.694 million recorded on May 28, 2026. Compared with the yearly high of 2.188 million payments reached in February 2026, activity has fallen by roughly 85%.

These numbers suggest that users are making fewer transactions on the XRP Ledger than earlier this year.

Overall On-Chain Activity Is Also Declining

The drop is not limited to payment volume. Other blockchain activity indicators have also weakened.

For example, the number of active users—measured using source and destination tags on the XRP Ledger—fell to 123,986 on Sunday. At the same time, total transactions executed on the network declined to 1.129 million.

That transaction count represents a 78% decrease from the yearly peak of 5.172 million transactions, which was recorded on April 6, 2026.

Together, these metrics point to a broader slowdown in activity across the XRPL network.

XRP Price Remains Under Pressure

The decline in network activity has occurred during a broader cryptocurrency market downturn.

XRP reached a local recovery high of $2.41 on January 6, 2026, before falling sharply to around $1.11 in early February. The token later recovered above $1.40 and traded around that level until early June, when it lost support between $1.10 and $1.40.

The source also notes that XRP previously reached a peak of $3.60 in July 2025. Since then, the token has reportedly fallen by more than 70% and is currently trading around $1.08.

Despite posting a 4.85% gain during July 2026 so far, XRP remains down nearly 41% since the beginning of the year.

Market observers continue to watch the $1.00 price level closely, as the source suggests that losing this psychological support could increase the risk of further downside toward the $0.70 to $0.80 range. However, this scenario has not been confirmed and reflects market analysis rather than a certainty.

Conclusion

Recent blockchain data shows a significant slowdown in XRP Ledger activity, with daily payments, active users, and transaction volumes all falling sharply from earlier 2026 highs. The decline has coincided with weaker XRP prices and a broader downturn across the cryptocurrency market.