Ripple’s XRP ETF Assets Hit $1 Billion — So Why Is XRP Stuck at $1.05?
Ripple’s XRP spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have surpassed $1 billion in total assets, yet the price of XRP itself has stubbornly failed to rise, drawing attention to what’s behind the disconnect. Seven XRP spot ETFs trading in the United States have collectively attracted $1.49 billion in cumulative inflows, but the price has not responded to this capital influx. Industry observers point to one key reason: inflows have become heavily concentrated in a single asset manager, while fresh capital entering the funds overall has stalled.
According to crypto industry sources as of July 28 (local time), the seven U.S.-listed XRP spot ETFs held $1 billion in assets as of the 26th, backed by 977.4 million tokens in dollar terms. However, throughout July, there were six days on which both inflows and outflows across all seven funds registered exactly $0. During the week of the 6th through the 10th in particular, a net $7.18 million flowed out on a weekly basis, breaking what had been a continuous streak of inflows. Even on the single day in July with the highest net inflow, the total came to just $6.78 million.
The extreme concentration of inflows in specific asset managers is cited as another factor weighing on the price. On the day with the largest inflow of $6.78 million, the vast majority — $4.41 million — flowed into the Bitwise fund alone, while $2.38 million went into the Franklin Templeton fund. Meanwhile, the remaining five funds — Canary Capital, Grayscale, 21Shares, and others — saw no inflows whatsoever. In other words, five of the seven products have essentially stalled trading activity, meaning the overall market indicator is being driven almost entirely by the capital movements of a single asset manager’s clients.
Another reason XRP’s price hasn’t kept pace with the scale of inflows lies in the unrealized losses carried by existing investors. Early investors who entered XRP ETFs after the resolution of the long-running legal dispute with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last August generally bought in at prices ranging between $1.87 and $2.41. But with the price falling to around $1.05 as of July 28 (Korea time), the ETFs as a whole are now sitting on unrealized losses estimated at roughly $450 million to $500 million — equivalent to about 33% of total cumulative inflows. With such substantial paper losses piling up, existing investors are reluctant to sell and lock in losses, while new investors remain hesitant to buy in amid fears of further downside.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs holds $153.8 million in assets across four XRP ETFs, representing about 15.4% of total assets. However, this reflects positions already established during the initial buying phase and does not appear to be translating into fresh purchasing activity at present. With long-term investor inflows stalled, most of the active trading is occurring through short-term positions in the futures-based Volatility Shares Trust product instead.
There are also structural reasons why ecosystem-level technical growth around XRP hasn’t translated into price appreciation. Ripple’s own stablecoin, RLUSD, has seen its issuance on the Ripple ledger reach $810 million, surpassing the $756 million issued on the competing Ethereum (ETH) network. However, because transaction fees for this stablecoin are set extremely low, even growing usage does not directly translate into increased demand for XRP or upward price pressure — a structural limitation baked into the token’s economics.
This pattern — where inflows concentrated in a single asset manager, combined with overall fund stagnation, constrain price appreciation — is not unique to the XRP ETF market. According to financial analytics outlet Farside Investors, a similar phenomenon occurred in the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF market back in April 2024. At that time, all ten Bitcoin ETFs other than BlackRock’s IBIT recorded exactly $0 in daily net inflows on a particular day. On July 24 of the same year, BlackRock’s fund alone accounted for more than 88% of the $240.08 million in total outflows across the entire Bitcoin ETF market, while the remaining eleven funds saw no capital movement at all. These precedents suggest that heavy concentration in a single dominant asset manager isn’t a problem unique to XRP, but rather a recurring structural feature seen across the broader nascent crypto ETF market.