XRP ETFs see rising inflows, quiet accumulation and first moves from major banks

Criptolog » Coins » XRP ETFs see rising inflows, quiet accumulation and first moves from major banks

After a relatively quiet period for the broader crypto market, XRP-focused exchange-traded funds are starting to show fresh signs of activity. A combination of synchronized daily gains across multiple XRP ETFs, rising net inflows and early moves from large financial institutions suggests that interest in regulated XRP exposure is slowly building, even if headline trading volumes are still modest.

At the same time, Ripple-related developments and recent price action in XRP itself are feeding into the story behind these funds. While XRP remains well below its all-time high, the ETF ecosystem around the asset is expanding, and new players are appearing on the institutional side, including one of Canada’s largest banks.

Coordinated intraday gains across major XRP ETFs

In the latest trading session, several spot and leveraged XRP ETFs listed in the U.S. recorded intraday price increases, pointing to a short-term upswing in sentiment toward XRP-based investment products. The moves were not explosive, but the fact that they occurred across the board hints at a common driver of demand rather than isolated flows in a single fund.

Data from SoSoValue shows that the Bitwise XRP ETF (ticker: XRP), currently the largest spot XRP ETF by size, advanced 0.46% on the day, closing around $15.25. The fund, which holds physical XRP as its underlying asset, continues to act as a primary gateway for investors seeking straightforward, regulated exposure to the token.

Just behind it in terms of footprint, the Canary XRP ETF (XRPC), identified as the second-largest spot XRP ETF, climbed 0.62% to $14.50. This parallel move with Bitwise’s product reinforces the idea that demand is broad-based across issuers, rather than tightly concentrated in a single vehicle.

Other spot products joined the advance as well. The Franklin XRP ETF (EZRP) rose 0.47% to $14.81, and the 21Shares XRP ETF (TOXR) edged up 0.45% to $13.28. Meanwhile, the Grayscale XRP Trust (GXRP) – which operates as a trust structure rather than a conventional ETF – added 0.69%, finishing the session at $26.44.

Outside of the largest names, the REX-Osprey XRP ETF (XRPR) posted a stronger intraday move of 0.71%, ending at $11.17. Leveraged strategies also participated: the Teucrium 2x Long Daily XRP ETF (XXRP) jumped 1.29% to $3.92, while the Volatility Shares Trust XRP ETF (XRPI) increased 0.50% to $7.69, reflecting amplified sensitivity to XRP’s underlying price changes.

Low trading volumes hint at a possible accumulation phase

Despite the across-the-board price gains, spot XRP ETF trading volumes stayed relatively muted. According to Coinglass data, all spot XRP ETFs combined generated around $7.65 million in daily trading volume, keeping each individual product below the $10 million threshold for the session.

To put that into perspective, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) from BlackRock alone recorded approximately $34.80 million in daily volume over the same period. The gap underlines a key reality of the current market: while XRP ETFs are attracting attention, they still sit far behind Bitcoin-based products in terms of liquidity and turnover.

Even so, some market observers view this mix of rising prices paired with comparatively low volumes as a sign of discreet accumulation. In this type of environment, larger investors may be building positions incrementally, keeping order sizes small enough to avoid drawing too much attention or sparking sharp price spikes.

That interpretation fits with how professional participants often approach newer or less liquid ETFs. Incremental buying allows institutions to test trading infrastructure, risk controls and custody setups before committing larger allocations. If this pattern takes hold, today’s modest flows could be a prelude to bigger moves down the line.

In parallel, XRP itself has been edging higher. The token is reported to have gained about 0.41% over the last 24 hours and roughly 2.81% over the previous week, trading around $1.34 with a daily spot volume near $1.87 billion. While those numbers are far from euphoric, they do provide a constructive backdrop for ETF products tied to the asset.

Strongest XRP ETF inflows since early January

Beyond daily price action, net capital flows into U.S.-listed spot XRP ETFs have picked up noticeably. On May 11, the five spot XRP ETFs in the United States recorded a combined $25.8 million in net inflows, the highest single-day intake since January 5 of this year, according to market data.

These inflows arrive after a period in which XRP’s market performance has lagged some other large-cap cryptocurrencies. Even with growing ETF interest, the underlying token remains about 39% lower over the past six months, trading near $1.44 and well off its record peak of $3.65 from July 2025. For some investors, that disconnect – robust ETF demand despite a subdued price chart – may look like an opportunity to gain exposure at a discount relative to prior highs.

Aggregating the numbers, cumulative net inflows into all U.S. spot XRP ETFs are now estimated at roughly $1.35 billion. Total net assets under management across these products stand around $1.18 billion, which represents close to 1.3% of XRP’s overall market capitalization. While still a relatively small share of the total supply, it indicates that a non-trivial portion of XRP is now being held within regulated fund structures.

From a structural standpoint, this growing ETF footprint could gradually influence liquidity dynamics in the XRP market. As more tokens become locked into fund vehicles for the long term, the effective float on exchanges may shrink, potentially amplifying the impact of new buying or selling pressure over time. That said, the scale today remains modest compared with XRP’s broader ecosystem.

These flows also suggest that investors are increasingly comfortable using ETFs as their preferred channel for gaining XRP exposure, especially those who prioritize regulatory oversight, simplified reporting and institutional-grade custody over holding the asset directly.

Ripple’s business moves in the background

Part of the renewed interest in XRP ETFs coincides with ongoing corporate developments at Ripple, the technology company closely associated with the XRP Ledger. While ETFs do not depend on Ripple’s operations to function, headlines around the company can shape sentiment toward XRP-related investment products.

Recently, Ripple closed a $200 million debt facility aimed at supporting the expansion of its multi-asset prime brokerage platform, known as “Ripple Prime”. The initiative is designed to provide institutional clients with consolidated access to trading, liquidity and related services across multiple digital assets, potentially making it easier for professional investors to work with XRP alongside other tokens.

In addition, Ripple completed a pilot project involving tokenized U.S. Treasury settlement on the XRP Ledger, collaborating with major financial names JPMorgan Chase and Mastercard. The trial explored how tokenized versions of Treasuries could be issued, transferred and settled on-chain, using the XRP Ledger as the underlying infrastructure.

Even though these efforts are separate from ETF trading, they collectively reinforce the narrative that the XRP ecosystem is not standing still. For investors evaluating XRP ETFs, the combination of on-chain experimentation, institutional partnerships and infrastructure build-out can help frame the long-term use-case discussion around the asset.

Royal Bank of Canada steps in with a Bitwise XRP ETF position

On the institutional adoption front, one of the more notable recent developments is that Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), the country’s largest bank by assets, has disclosed a position in the Bitwise XRP ETF. The holding appears in a Form 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which catalogues certain securities owned by large investment managers.

According to the filing, RBC owns approximately 2,000 shares of the Bitwise XRP ETF, identified under CUSIP 09174F107, with a reported value of around $30,000. Measured against the bank’s total portfolio – estimated at roughly $570 billion – the position is tiny. However, the significance lies less in its size and more in the fact that a top-tier Canadian bank has formally added an XRP ETF to its disclosed holdings.

Form 13F reports are required for institutional investment managers overseeing more than $100 million in qualifying assets, making them a key window into how large players are allocating capital. When a name like RBC appears on the shareholder register of an XRP ETF, it signals that at least some level of internal due diligence, compliance review and operational setup has taken place.

This pattern is familiar from earlier phases of crypto adoption. In the early days of Bitcoin ETFs, many major banks and asset managers began with small, almost symbolic positions. Those initial entries often served to test internal processes, gain comfort with the product structure and establish the necessary documentation before any larger allocations were considered.

Market watchers tracking XRP ETF flows see RBC’s move as a classic “toe in the water” moment. The dollar amount is minimal, but the brand recognition is substantial, and the filing confirms that XRP exposure via a regulated, physically backed ETF is now present on the balance sheet of one of the world’s better-known banking groups.

A long-standing link between RBC and Ripple technology

RBC’s small ETF position does not exist in a vacuum. The bank has a documented history of engaging with Ripple’s technology and assessing XRP’s potential role in payments, suggesting that this is not a case of an institution casually stumbling into a new asset.

Historically, Royal Bank of Canada was a founding member of the Global Payments Steering Group, a consortium established to shape rules and governance around the use of Ripple’s solutions for international payments. Other founding institutions included major global banks such as Santander, UniCredit, Standard Chartered, Westpac and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

In earlier internal research, RBC analysts examined XRP’s potential as a bridge asset in cross-border transactions. One of the bank’s reports estimated that Ripple’s technology, with or without direct XRP usage, could cut banks’ payment costs by an average of roughly 46% per transaction. The same analysis highlighted how XRP might allow financial institutions to concentrate liquidity into a single account instead of maintaining separate currency balances across numerous markets.

Against that backdrop, RBC’s presence on the Bitwise XRP ETF shareholder list looks more like the continuation of a long-running exploration than a sudden change of direction. The 13F disclosure is simply the first time that this interest has translated into a publicly visible investment tied specifically to XRP.

For XRP-focused investors and developers, the key takeaway is that established banks with prior exposure to Ripple’s infrastructure are now beginning to appear, even modestly, in XRP ETF ownership data. If the Bitcoin ETF experience is any guide, such early positions can pave the way for larger commitments once internal systems and regulatory comfort levels are fully in place.

What the evolving XRP ETF landscape suggests

Taken together, the latest XRP ETF metrics paint a picture of a market that is gradually maturing rather than exploding overnight. Price gains across multiple ETFs, rising cumulative inflows, modest but notable institutional entries and an expanding backdrop of Ripple-related activity all point toward a slow build in interest, rather than a speculative frenzy.

Trading volumes in spot XRP ETFs remain well below those of leading Bitcoin products, and XRP’s spot price is still significantly off its all-time high despite the growth in ETF assets. That discrepancy leaves room for different interpretations: some may view it as a sign that the story is still early, while others may see it as evidence that enthusiasm has yet to fully return.

For now, the combination of quiet accumulation signals, measured institutional experimentation and ongoing development on the XRP Ledger is likely to keep XRP ETFs on the radar of investors who are comfortable with digital assets but prefer to operate within regulated fund structures. Whether this ultimately translates into much larger flows will depend on broader market conditions, regulatory clarity and how compelling XRP’s real-world use cases prove to be over time.

As things stand, XRP ETFs are carving out a niche as accessible, regulated vehicles for gaining exposure to one of the larger crypto assets, supported by a growing, if still cautious, base of both retail and institutional investors and shaped by the continuing evolution of Ripple’s technology and partnerships.

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