[DigitalToday reporter Yoonseo Lee] Criticism is again growing that there is a gap between Ripple’s business expansion and XRP’s perceived performance.

On April 28 (local time), blockchain outlet The Crypto Basic reported that Royal Peak Capital Chief Investment Officer Arthur said Ripple is expanding its global business through South Korean bank partnerships and broader treasury transactions, but XRP itself is not showing progress at the same level.

Arthur assessed that Ripple is doing “very well” in its enterprise business. He added that what XRP investors expect is not the expansion of corporate deals, but broader adoption of the token itself. He said signs are still limited that real-world utility, transaction volume and integrations centered on XRP and the XRP Ledger are increasing noticeably.

The issue also ties into recent XRP price moves. XRP has fallen more than 60 percent since mid-2025 and is currently around $1.38, without showing a clear rebound signal. As Ripple continues to win major deals but the token price fails to follow, doubts among investors have grown about how directly the company’s performance is linked to XRP.

Market attention is now shifting to “XRPL Las Vegas 2026.” Arthur said he hopes the event will be a turning point, and that he wants announcements that directly affect expanding XRP use rather than Ripple’s enterprise products. He also argued that Ripple needs to focus more on XRPL over the next few years.

Crypto-focused lawyer Bill Morgan countered that the gap between Ripple’s business growth and XRP’s price is not a new phenomenon. He said XRP’s price has historically shown little direct correlation with Ripple’s major announcements.

He explained that even in the now-concluded lawsuit between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Ripple, the regulator’s claim that Ripple’s announcements drove XRP price increases did not significantly influence the court’s decision. This aligns with the view that XRP in the market is more closely tied to bitcoin’s moves than to Ripple-related news.

Criticism continued. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson claimed last week that value created in the Ripple ecosystem largely accrues to the company and does not flow to token holders. He said XRP lacks mechanisms such as staking or revenue-sharing rights that create direct buying pressure or long-term holding rewards. He also said XRP holders do not have legal rights to Ripple’s business, assets or profits.

Ripple, meanwhile, says the gap itself is exaggerated. Markus Infanger (마르쿠스 인팡거), a senior vice president at Ripple, said, “There is no real disconnect between the XRP price and underlying demand.” He said XRP’s utility is steadily expanding, with growing use in payments, collateral transfers and XRP Ledger-based real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation. He said the scale of tokenisation has grown from $100 million to $200 million to a level exceeding $2 billion.

Infanger also mentioned that a spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) could help improve liquidity and efficiency. He said stablecoins such as RLUSD are complements that expand liquidity and use cases across the ecosystem, rather than competing with XRP. He added that Ripple’s expansion in regions including Japan is part of a shift toward regulation-friendly, real-use-driven crypto adoption.

Ultimately, the key issue is not Ripple’s growth itself, but how directly its results are reflected in XRP. Ripple is increasing bank partnerships and enterprise transactions, but XRP holders are calling for clearer progress in the token’s real-world use, transaction metrics and price trends. In this situation, attention is on whether XRPL Las Vegas 2026 can become an opportunity to narrow the gap between the company’s growth and the token’s value.

Honest take as an XRP holder Lately I see @Ripple everywhere: new bank partnerships in South Korea, Ripple Treasury deals… and that’s great. Ripple is killing it on the enterprise side But I have to admit… as someone who holds XRP, I’m starting to feel the gap.⁰We see a… pic.twitter.com/QaYJeDSx8P