XRP Network Fees Collapse 91.5%, Glassnode Data Points to Weakening Transaction Demand

$XRP's 90-day average network fee has fallen 91.5%, according to Glassnode, a signal that real transaction demand on the XRP ledger has contracted sharply after a period of earlier price strength. The scale of the decline raises pointed questions about whether the network's usage levels during the speculative surge reflected durable activity or temporary noise.

A Fee Signal, Not a Press Release

The 91.5% drop in XRP's 90-day fee average comes from Glassnode's on-chain data, not from a project announcement. That distinction matters. Glassnode tracks what users actually paid to get transactions processed on the ledger — a direct expression of demand — rather than what any organization says about adoption or growth.

On distributed ledgers, fees rise when users compete for transaction throughput and fall when that competition thins out. A 91.5% collapse across a 90-day smoothed average means the dynamic has been running in reverse, and for long enough to register across a sustained stretch of data — not a single session of low activity.

Price Strength and On-Chain Activity Diverged

$XRP posted price gains prior to the current fee data drawing attention, but network activity tells a different story from market price. Glassnode's numbers suggest that whatever drove earlier price movement, it was not accompanied by a proportionate increase in durable ledger usage.

This is the wedge the fee data exposes. Price and on-chain activity can diverge, and when they do, the ledger metrics tend to give a cleaner read on what is actually happening at the protocol level. The 90-day smoothing is specifically designed to filter out short-term noise, which makes the 91.5% figure a statement about a sustained trend rather than a fleeting dip.

The Speculative Surge Leaves a Fee Baseline Behind

The pattern Glassnode's data outlines follows a recognizable cycle. Speculative participants generate transaction volume during a price run; when that speculation recedes, so does a meaningful portion of the activity it produced. What remains is closer to the network's structural baseline — and by the fee measure, that baseline is considerably lower than where the surge-era numbers sat.

For $XRP, the gap between the price narrative and on-chain fee reality is now a data story. Whether the current floor represents durable fundamental demand or a further decline in progress is a question the 91.5% figure raises without answering.