Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse shared in a recent community call that the XRP Ledger’s decentralized exchange (DEX) saw over $400 million in trading volumes for January, marking a major milestone for the network. This surge in activity has positioned the XRP Ledger as a growing force in the crypto market, with daily trading volumes averaging more than $17 million and total volumes surpassing $1 billion since the DEX’s debut in 2024.
Garlinghouse described the expansion of the XRP Ledger’s DEX as one of the defining achievements of 2024, alongside Ripple’s launch of its US dollar-pegged stablecoin, RLUSD, and the filing of several proposed XRP-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The DEX’s success was one of the factors he credited for making the year so pivotal for Ripple’s growth.
This momentum comes as there’s increasing speculation that a potential crypto-friendly Trump administration could bolster the fortunes of U.S.-based crypto firms, including Ripple and its native token XRP.
The XRP Ledger’s DEX differentiates itself from other decentralized exchanges by being fully integrated into the blockchain itself, rather than relying on separate applications or smart contracts, like those found in platforms such as Uniswap and Pancakeswap. The system also uses an order book model, enabling users to place market and limit orders for XRP as well as a variety of assets issued on the XRP Ledger, such as tokens and IOUs representing different currencies or commodities. This approach gives the XRP Ledger a unique edge in the competitive landscape of decentralized exchanges.
