Ripple PACE Act introduced, could fast‑track Fed access for XRP

Ripple’s newly introduced Payments Access and Consumer Efficiency (PACE) Act could shrink the expected five‑year wait for direct Federal Reserve payment‑rail access to as little as a year, a move that may reshape XRP’s institutional outlook. The bill, dropped on April 21 by two California representatives, singles out Ripple (and Circle) as primary beneficiaries, putting the token’s regulatory path under fresh congressional focus【1】.

Legislative shortcut to Fed rails

The PACE Act creates a new “registered covered provider” category that would let qualifying non‑bank payment firms apply through the OCC for direct access to Fedwire, FedNow and FedACH. Ripple already has a Fed master‑account application pending from 2025, but it sits in the Fed’s Tier 3 queue—the slowest track, with only two uninsured institutions ever granted full access. Under the bill, the OCC would have 180 days to deem an application complete and another 180 days to approve or deny it; missing the second deadline would automatically grant the access, capping the process at roughly a year【1】.

Ripple meets the Act’s stringent qualification bar, holding conditional OCC national trust charters and money‑transmitter licenses in at least 40 states. This positions the firm to plug into the Fed’s core systems without converting into a full‑service bank, a statutory pathway that bypasses the Fed’s own “skinny master account” proposal, which excludes ACH flows【1】.

XRP price and tokenomics context

XRP is hovering just above $1, down about 70 % from its $3.65 peak last summer. Its market cap sits near $66 bn, trailing Binance Coin into sixth place among cryptocurrencies【2】. The price dip reflects a broader market sell‑off that briefly pushed Bitcoin under $60 k, rather than XRP‑specific fundamentals. On‑chain, Ripple releases 1 bn XRP from escrow each month, typically relocking most of it; the net fresh supply entering the market each month is roughly 200‑400 million tokens【2】. Spot‑ETF inflows have totaled $1.43 bn, but about 90 % of that is retail money, leaving institutional demand still contingent on regulatory clarity【2】.

What to watch

• Committee action – Whether the PACE Act is assigned to the House Financial Services Committee and scheduled for a hearing before the October midterms.
• Senate companion – Introduction of a matching Senate bill, which would be needed for the legislation to advance beyond the House.
• XRP price thresholds – Watch the $1.00 support level and the $1.30 resistance zone as the market reacts to regulatory developments.

If Congress moves forward, the PACE Act could provide Ripple with the settlement infrastructure that institutions have been waiting for, potentially unlocking deeper use of XRP on the ledger. Absent a legislative win, Ripple’s Fed‑access application remains mired in a multi‑year queue, leaving the token’s upside tied to broader market sentiment and the outcome of parallel regulatory efforts such as the CLARITY Act.