Ripple delivered two non-price developments today: a $200,000 security “attackathon” for the XRP Ledger (XRPL) lending protocol and a brand new institutional custody partnership with South Africa’s Absa Bank. Separately, CEO Brad Garlinghouse in Washington pushed for fair access to Federal Reserve master accounts for crypto firms.
XRPL Lending Protocol is collaborating in the general public attackathon
Ripple and Immunefi have launched a targeted troubleshooting program to emphasize test the upcoming XRPL lending protocol. The $200,000 flat pool is unlocked when researchers land a sound exploit; otherwise, a fallback pool pays verified insights. The focus of the event is on unsecured, term loans that decide on the ledger.
The attackathon comes after a brief educational period that began this week. Immunefi's schedule sets the academic window in mid-October and the most important competition from October twenty seventh to the tip of November. Participants will receive protocol documents and direct access to Q&A before live testing begins.
Organizers say pre-launch adversarial testing reduces production risk for a lending primitive that includes TradFi underwriting into XRPL settlement. The format focuses reviewers on core design and implementation, not market outcomes. Ripple described the exercise as a part of its security standards for protocol publications.
Absa adds Ripple custody in South Africa
Ripple confirmed that Absa will deploy its institutional custody stack to guard crypto and tokenized assets for purchasers in South Africa. The move expands Ripple's geographic coverage and brings a significant African bank into its depository network. Today's coverage highlighted the partnership's role within the regulated digital asset infrastructure.
Ripple Absa Custody Africa. Source: Ripple Blog
According to Ripple's announcement, the collaboration expands the corporate's global custody presence to Africa. Absa's launch is geared toward institutional custody and operational control fairly than trading functions. The bank joins other regulated partners using Ripple’s custody technology for customer assets.
Media reports today highlighted that business demand and compliance were the driving aspects. They also noted that the protocol focuses on service delivery and control, not token prices. The timing follows regional interest in secure, bank-grade storage for tokenized instruments.
Policy Push: Master Account Access
In one other statement near Washington, Garlinghouse argued that qualified crypto firms must have access to Federal Reserve master accounts. He said parity with traditional institutions promotes security and market integrity, linking this point to Ripple's ambitions in US banking.
The stance is consistent with Ripple's previously disclosed pursuit of a federal charter and associated account. He viewed access as infrastructure fairly than a special favor.
The comments come as policymakers weigh how bank-like crypto entities must be connected to the core rails. Any decision would impact custodian banks, payment platforms and token asset locations built for institutions. For Ripple, the final result shapes its US operating model greater than short-term market movements.
The realized XRP price clusters highlight the resistance at $2.80 and the support at $2.10
Glassnode's latest XRP UTXO Realized Price Distribution (URPD) chart breaks down historical cost bases by key price levels. The data shows a dense cluster at $2.80 forming a key resistance zone and one other major base near $2.10 acting as structural support.
XRP URPD support resistance. Source: Glassnode via Ali Charts on X
The $2.80 level represents one in every of the most important historical bars of realized volume because the all-time high. A major variety of addresses were transacted at this level, leading to excessive supply pressure when the value approached this level again. This concentration often signals possible distribution behavior as existing holders try and exit at break-even.
In contrast, the $2.10 area has a thick support band. Many market participants built up positions there and created a structural lower limit by way of realized costs. As price approaches this area, the distribution suggests strong holding behavior and accumulation that may absorb sell-side pressure. The two levels now frame key ranges that traders monitor for structural changes in XRP's realized cost base.
The XRP/ETH pair is nearing the height of the falling wedge pattern
XRP's performance against Ethereum is approaching a critical technical point because the pair trades inside a big falling wedge on the day by day chart. The structure has been tightening since February, with price repeatedly testing the converging support and resistance trendlines. The squeeze signals that a decisive move is imminent.
XRP ETH Falling Wedge day by day. Source: TradingView via CryptoBull on X
The falling wedge began to form within the spring after XRP/ETH peaked and reversed. Since then, the pair has made lower highs and lower lows, condensing towards the highest of the wedge. The current level around 0.0006067 ETH is just above long-term support, while resistance limits any upside attempts from the descending upper trendline.
Falling wedges often resolve to the upside once price breaks resistance with volume. In this case, a transparent breakout would signal relative strength shifting towards XRP after months of underperformance. Traders are watching this structure closely as a move outside of the wedge would likely determine XRP's relative momentum versus Ethereum in the approaching weeks.
XRP forms a bullish flag on October 16, 2025
As of October 16, 2025, the XRP USD day by day chart on Bitstamp shows a transparent bullish flag following the strong rally in August, with the value last at 2.415 and the flag trending downwards inside parallel lines. Volume cooled throughout the consolidation and the 50-day EMA is above 2.813, framing the breakout area. Consequently, the pattern is now approaching decision time as the value approaches the upper boundary.
XRP Bullish Flag Daily, October 16, 2025. Source: TradingView Bitstamp
A bullish flag is a continuation setup by which a robust rally (the pole) pauses inside a downward-sloping channel (the flag) before the trend often turns up again. Therefore, traders typically search for a decisive day by day close above the flag's upper trendline – ideally with increasing volume – to verify the pattern. Such a confirmation would signal that the previous impulse stays on top of things.
If the breakout is confirmed, the measured goal implies an upside of around 84 percent from the present price, which is forecast at ~4.44. This, in turn, is consistent with the chart's marked resistance band at 4.445 and provides a transparent reference for targeting and risk management as momentum returns.
