Citibank's 2021 Paper Naming Convinces One Researcher XRP Is Getting the Silent Treatment 📉

A 2021 Citibank document originally described a shared ledger framework for tokenized bank deposits as the "Regulated Internet of Value" before the terminology was changed to "Regulated Liability Network," and a researcher known as Jesse of Apex Crypto argues the wording was edited to obscure the connection to Ripple. The Regulated Liability Network, as described by Citigroup's Tony McLaughlin, is a shared ledger framework for tokenized bank deposits, a concept structurally close to what Ripple has been building toward since the company's founding. According to Jesse, the 2021 document used the phrase "Regulated Internet of Value" before the terminology was quietly shifted to "Regulated Liability Network," and he contends this change was made because the original wording made the link to Ripple too obvious. The argument leans on a causal chain: Citibank published the 2021 document, the terminology was subsequently revised, and XRP has since failed to deliver the kind of price appreciation its institutional footprint might suggest.

XRP's price history gives the argument its surface credibility. The token reached $3.84 during the 2018 bull run and touched $3.60 earlier in the current cycle, according to CBF Benchmark data. Between those two peaks, XRP spent the better part of a decade moving sideways while Bitcoin compounded far higher, with $BTC last changing hands at $61,653.26, down 8.15% over 24 hours. For a token with Ripple's institutional reach and the Interledger Protocol's design ambitions, the flat trajectory is, at minimum, a question worth asking.

Citibank's 2021 framing is now the primary exhibit in a broader theory that XRP's price is being deliberately suppressed, though neither the bank nor Ripple has commented on the claim in connection with the new attention. The researcher points to the document's institutional language, the timing of the terminology change, and the long stretch of subdued price action as circumstantial evidence that major financial institutions prefer to keep Ripple's flagship token from reaching the levels its underlying technology might otherwise justify. The full text of the 2021 document and the revised terminology have not been independently re-verified by GasCope at the time of publication.