Ripple’s senior executive for the Middle East and Africa has described the rapid rise of U.S. spot XRP exchange-traded funds as the clearest evidence yet that the token has entered a new institutional era.
Reece Merrick, managing director at Ripple, pointed to data showing that the products recorded no net outflows in their first month of trading. Cumulative inflows topped $1 billion by December 16, 2025, making XRP the fastest digital asset to reach that threshold since Ethereum’s ETF debut. By early March 2026, the figure had climbed above $1.5 billion across five U.S. spot products, with more than 769 million XRP tokens held in custody.
An April 17 Ripple report notes a shift from quiet over-the-counter and private-placement demand to broad, regulated access. Regulatory clarity arrived in mid-2025 when the SEC introduced generic listing standards for commodity-based crypto ETPs, shortening the review process to roughly 75 days. The six-month seasoning requirement for regulated futures markets had already been met by the time Bitnomial launched the first U.S. XRP futures contract in March 2025.
The launch wave followed in November. Canary Capital’s XRPC led on Nasdaq with the highest first-day volume of any ETF in 2025 across asset classes. Bitwise, Grayscale’s GXRP on NYSE Arca, Franklin Templeton, and 21Shares followed in quick succession, while REX-Osprey’s XRPR had already begun trading in September.
Meanwhile, the XRP Ledger has processed more than 4 billion transactions since its inception. Real-world asset tokenization exceeds $474 million in value, with total represented assets approaching $1.5 billion.
 
Daily transactions reached 3 million on March 15, driven by automated market maker pools, tokenized assets, and RLUSD settlement. RLUSD itself has grown to more than $1.5 billion in market capitalization and is now listed on Binance, with XRPL support forthcoming.
JPMorgan has projected that first-year inflows for XRP ETFs could reach $4 billion to $8.4 billion. Seven U.S. products now hold $1.53 billion in assets under management and 773 million XRP in custody. ARK Invest has allocated nearly 20% of its CoinDesk 20 ETF to XRP, while Hong Kong, Canada, and European venues are expanding regulated access.
Ripple’s technical roadmap for 2026 is expected to enhance the asset’s utility as institutional collateral and for settlement.
As per CoinMarketCap, XRP fell 1.29% in the past 24 hours to $1.41, underperforming the broader market. The decline reflects capital rotating back into Bitcoin as its dominance rises and the Altcoin Season Index slips. The total crypto market capitalization dropped 1.75%, with limited coin-specific buying to offset the move.
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