U.S. lawmakers continue to work on the Clarity Act, and the conversation around whether Ripple would have to divest its XRP holdings has gained momentum.
Notably, most market watchers believe <a href="https://thecryptobasic.com/2025/12/10/will-ripple-sell-or-burn-17b-xrp-in-escrow-as-clarity-act-imposes-a-20-holding-limit/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Ripple may need to cut its XRP holdings</a> because the bill sets a strict rule barring anyone tied to a crypto project from holding more than 20% of the total token supply before that asset could qualify as a commodity.
<h2 id="would-ripple-divest-its-xrp-holdings">Would Ripple Divest Its XRP Holdings?</h2>
Notably, with over 34 billion XRP tokens in escrow alone, Ripple still controls more than 30% of all XRP. As a result, community commentators expect the company to face major decisions once the bill moves forward.
One such commentator is Brad Kimes from Digital Perspectives. He <a href="https://x.com/i/status/1998758126825472479" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">argued</a> that Ripple must drop its holdings below the 20% mark to meet the bill’s requirements.
Interestingly, Kimes presented the possibility that Ripple could hand a portion of its XRP to the U.S. government or the White House without receiving anything in return. Notably, such a move could help Ripple meet the threshold without using traditional selling or distribution methods.
Meanwhile, in a subsequent disclosure, Kimes claimed that this issue might disappear entirely if Ripple becomes a bank. Essentially, he believes that a national bank charter would place Ripple under a different rulebook, which could remove any need to cut XRP holdings.
However, it is important to note that this idea remains speculative and largely unconfirmed. Regulators have not suggested that being a bank would remove the 20% maximum holding threshold from any entity.
<h2 id="ripple-s-banking-license-push">Ripple’s Banking License Push</h2>
For context, in July 2025, Ripple sent a formal application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to create <a href="https://thecryptobasic.com/2025/07/03/heres-what-ripple-banking-license-could-mean-for-xrp/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Ripple National Trust Bank</a> as a brand-new national trust bank. At the same time, the company asked the Federal Reserve for a master account, which would give it direct access to Fed payment systems, including Fedwire and FedNow.
Ripple aims to use this setup to support 24/7 issuance and redemption of RLUSD while holding reserves directly with the Federal Reserve. This would strengthen its cross-border payment operations by removing the need for outside custodians. At press time, the OCC has neither approved nor denied the application, and the review continues.
<h2 id="xrp-price-if-ripple-gets-a-banking-charter">XRP Price if Ripple Gets a Banking Charter</h2>
Notably, besides the potential waiver suggested by Kimes, this banking charter may also influence XRP’s price action. However, the extent of such an impact remains largely unclear, so we asked Google Gemini for an assessment.
According to Gemini, winning a national trust bank charter, along with direct Fed access, would represent one of the strongest signs of institutional acceptance that any crypto project has ever received.
The AI chatbot said <a href="https://thecryptobasic.com/2025/11/06/analyst-xrp-bullish-phase-macro-wick-target-50/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">XRP could reach $50</a> in an extremely bullish situation. It believes this leap would come from several forces working together. According to Gemini, major financial institutions could quickly adopt XRP once regulators clear the uncertainty that has held many firms back.
<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/728bc4efe5784b8bb7e79b52f3298e38.png">
It also said Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity system could start replacing parts of the global Nostro and Vostro account structure. Because of ODL’s connection to XRP, Gemini expects demand to rise sharply.
It said this type of sudden demand could tighten available liquidity and force the market to reprice <a href="https://thecryptobasic.com/tag/ripple/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">XRP</a> to match the scale of international settlement flows. The chatbot added that such a major regulatory breakthrough would likely trigger a wave of enthusiasm from both large investors and retail traders, pushing XRP even higher in the short term.

Here’s XRP Price Scenario if Ripple Secures a Banking License

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