XRP’s $2.80 Line in the Sand — Cardano Founder Calls XRP a “Sleeping Giant” in $100B DeFi Opportunity

$2.80 Emerges as XRP’s Critical Support Level According to renowned market analyst Ali Martinez, the $2.80 price level has emerged as the most critical support zone for XRP, acting as the key line that could define whether the token’s next move is a rebound or a breakdown. Amid weeks of intense market volatility, XRP has held firm above the crucial $2.80 mark, a level analyst Ali Martinez calls both a technical and psychological anchor. He warns that a close below could trigger a major correction, while holding this zone may ignite a strong bullish reversal. At the time of this writing, XRP was trading at $2.87 per CoinGecko data . The Technical Picture On-chain and technical data appear to reinforce this view. The $2.80 region aligns with a cluster of historical trading activity, where significant buying pressure previously emerged. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) also suggests that XRP is nearing oversold territory, indicating that buyers may soon step back in to defend the level. On the other hand, the volume profile reveals dense liquidity between $2.80 and $3.00, a critical battleground for XRP. A decisive break below this zone could unleash a wave of stop-loss triggers, accelerating a drop toward $2.50. Conversely, defending the $2.80 floor may fuel bullish momentum for a retest of $3.20–$3.40, key resistance levels from past rallies. Cardano Founder Sparks Frenzy Over $100B Untapped XRP DeFi Goldmine At a recent crypto conference in Singapore, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson made waves after calling XRP a “sleeping giant” in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. In a conversation with Crypto Banter host Ran Neuner, Hoskinson highlighted what he sees as one of the most overlooked opportunities in the blockchain world, the potential for XRP to evolve into a major DeFi powerhouse. Hoskinson noted that XRP, despite boasting a market valuation exceeding $100 billion, lacks the kind of robust, yield-generating infrastructure that has propelled other networks like Ethereum and Solana into DeFi dominance. He said, “There’s almost $100 billion worth of XRP floating around that’s yield-free. There’s no DeFi ecosystem for it.” Hoskinson acknowledged that with the right infrastructure, XRP could power lending, staking, and liquidity protocols, unlocking on-chain yield, boosting token utility, and fueling greater investor participation. If successful, such development could position XRP as a formidable force in DeFi, competing with networks that currently dominate decentralized finance metrics. As a result, Hoskinson’s perspective reinforces a growing sentiment in the crypto space that the next phase of blockchain growth may come not from new tokens, but from awakening sleeping giants like XRP with massive untapped potential. Conclusion As XRP continues to consolidate amid broader crypto uncertainty, the $2.80 level stands as a battleground between bulls and bears. A firm hold above it could mark the start of another upward wave, potentially rekindling momentum toward the $3 zone. On the other hand, Charles Hoskinson highlights a key crypto insight that XRP’s vast valuation and liquidity are only the start. By building native yield-generating infrastructure, XRP could evolve from a transactional token into a DeFi powerhouse, unlocking billions in untapped value and realizing its full potential as a “sleeping giant” in the blockchain space.