XRP has recently captured significant attention across social media, driven by the news of a major integration with Japan’s financial and retail giant Rakuten through its payment app. This announcement has sparked renewed optimism among investors. Although the increased interest in the cryptocurrency has not yet translated into dramatic price action, market analysts are zeroing in on key resistance areas for XRP.
Social media buzz reaches record highs
Over the past 30 days, positive sentiment toward XRP on social platforms has surged by 240 percent, reaching its highest level in two years. According to Sanbase, the analytics platform operated by Santiment, this sharp recovery in sentiment has returned to the levels seen at the start of 2024. Analysts point out that XRP’s broadening real-world use cases are an important factor behind this momentum.
Rakuten Pay integration and market implications
Rakuten stands out as one of Japan’s largest payment and loyalty platforms with roughly 44 million users. Thanks to the new partnership with Rakuten Wallet, users can now directly convert their loyalty points to XRP and trade the asset within the app. Additionally, XRP acquired through Rakuten Pay can be spent at more than five million physical and digital merchants across Japan.
Ripple’s management highlighted that this integration marks the most extensive real-world use of XRP globally to date. In an official statement, Ripple emphasized that bringing together Rakuten’s loyalty schemes, payment systems, and cryptocurrency ecosystem signals a new era for the marketplace.
Santiment also reported that XRP’s social media sentiment index has soared to its second-highest point in two years. The platform’s sentiment score for XRP hit 3.9, which is 240 percent above the level observed right after a price slump of over 20 percent at the end of March.
Price movement and resistance barriers
Despite the flurry of positive developments, XRP’s price uptrend has stalled at a significant level. Over the past 24 hours, the XRP/USD pair recorded a modest 2 percent gain but remains about 62 percent below its all-time high of $3.66 reached in July 2025.
After dropping to $1.27 in early April, XRP rebounded by 18 percent and retreated from the $1.48 level. The price seems confined within the $1.40–$1.45 range. Analysts note that this tight band coincides with the upper boundary of a triangle chart pattern and aligns with the 50-day and 100-day moving averages, making it a robust resistance zone.
On-chain data from Glassnode indicates that around two billion XRP are held at an average price between $1.40 and $1.45. As a result, if the price breaks through this threshold, many investors may choose to sell at breakeven, potentially limiting further short-term gains.
Analyst outlook and upside potential
Some market commentators believe that should XRP surpass the major resistance above $1.40, a strong rally could follow. Technical indicators suggest that a decisive breakout from the triangle formation could push the price toward $2.10, which is nearly 50 percent higher than current levels.
Analyst ChartNerd remarked on Friday that a sustained move above the $1.40 mark could trigger significant price action. Similarly, analysis by Cointelegraph points out that if XRP/USD holds support at $1.27 and climbs above key moving averages, a new bullish trend could emerge.
Ripple explained, “This partnership has united the world of loyalty rewards with crypto payments and has massively expanded XRP’s real-world adoption.”
