XRP loses $700 million in futures bets while XRPL builds a $4 billion institutional pipeline

Demand for XRP is weakening across several key market indicators, testing whether the XRP Ledger’s (XRPL) growing institutional pipeline can translate into sustained investor and network activity.

U.S. spot XRP exchange‑traded funds recorded net outflows of roughly $7.2 million for the week ending July 10, according to SoSoValue, ending a nine‑week streak of inflows that had added almost $200 million. The weekly withdrawal was among the five largest outflows for XRP ETFs this year, but it marked only a modest reversal in the overall trend. Over the same period, the funds have attracted cumulative net inflows of $1.48 billion, with combined assets nearing $1 billion at month‑end.

The shift also coincided with a decline in futures exposure and some of the lowest XRPL user activity recorded in 2026, indicating that demand is cooling across both regulated investment products and the broader market.

XRP open interest falls as bullish traders pay more

The cooling fund demand is also evident in the leveraged market, where traders are reducing exposure. Global open interest in XRP futures fell from nearly $3 billion in June to about $2.3 billion by mid‑July, according to CoinGlass.

The decline was most pronounced on Binance, where open interest dropped from over $500 million in mid‑June to $399 million by July 10, per CryptoQuant. Long liquidations surged 94 % week‑over‑week and were 172 % above the three‑month average, while short liquidations fell by more than half.

Meanwhile, XRP funding rates moved inversely. Binance’s XRP funding rate jumped 266 % over the week even as the open‑position pool contracted and long liquidations remained high.

The divergence indicates that the remaining bullish traders are paying higher premiums to retain exposure in a contracting derivatives market. This dynamic could leave XRP vulnerable to a further funding reset if prices weaken and additional long positions are liquidated.

XRPL activity concentrates as wallet growth stalls

The retreat from leveraged trading is mirrored on the XRPL, where fewer wallets are active even though established services are producing more transactions. Blockchain analysis firm Santiment reported that XRPL recorded its second‑quietest day of 2026 this week, with just 25,350 active wallets.

New wallet creation has also collapsed, falling to 2,130—a level not seen since November 2024—indicating that the inflow of fresh participants has largely halted.

The slowdown followed a brief dip‑buying surge in late June. Since then, both active wallet counts and new wallet issuance have reverted to lower levels, with no clear price or network catalyst driving renewed growth.

However, activity metrics show a concentration among existing users and applications rather than an overall collapse. Vet, an XRP Ledger validator, reported a 28.6 % rise in transactions containing source tags, with the total number of source tags up 13 %.

The rise suggests heightened usage by service‑oriented applications, yet it does not necessarily indicate broader adoption. A narrower set of entrenched platforms can drive transaction volume even as active and new wallet counts decline.

CryptoQuant data mirrored this pattern. Transaction counts climbed 3 %–4 % week‑over‑week and month‑over‑month but stayed roughly 21 % below the three‑month average. Active addresses were likewise 11 % under their three‑month baseline.

The network‑value‑to‑transactions ratio softened during the period, implying that utilization may be stabilizing after an earlier drop.

However, the improvement remains limited, as transaction volumes and user participation continue to trail their longer‑term averages.

Can XRPL’s institutional growth revive demand for XRP?

Data from CryptoSlate shows the token has fallen about 5 % over the past week to roughly $1.11, as ETF outflows, declining futures exposure and weakening wallet growth point to reduced demand across several market segments.

At the same time, institutions are increasingly leveraging XRPL for tokenized assets and settlement. Evernorth, a digital‑asset treasury firm focused on XRP, reports that about $4 billion of tokenized real‑world assets are now linked to the network across more than 500 products.

This growth provides developers with incentive to tailor the ledger for banks, asset managers and other financial institutions. Their latest initiative emphasizes privacy, a key requirement for many institutions before conducting sensitive financial activity on public blockchains.

The proposed XLS‑96 standard would enable confidential transfers for Multi‑Purpose Tokens, employing encryption and zero‑knowledge proofs to conceal individual balances and transfer amounts while still permitting validators to confirm compliance with the ledger’s supply rules.

It would also support selective disclosure, allowing issuers to share transaction information with regulators and auditors without public exposure. Controls such as freezing and clawback functions would remain available for confidential assets.

These capabilities could render XRPL more appealing to institutions that prefer to keep their collateral movements, settlement amounts and trading positions confidential from competitors and external observers.

Institutional interest is already yielding practical use cases. In May, Ondo Finance, Ripple, Mastercard and JPMorgan’s Kinexys platform completed a cross‑border redemption involving Ondo’s tokenized U.S. Treasury product.

The tokenized asset leg settled on XRPL in under five seconds, while the parallel dollar payment routed through Kinexys and JPMorgan’s banking network. The transaction demonstrated how on‑ledger assets can interface with legacy financial infrastructure.

Introducing confidential transfers could further expand such activity by addressing a major barrier to institutional adoption. Increased tokenized assets, settlement transactions and financial products on XRPL may bolster demand for XRP if the token serves as a source of liquidity, transaction fees, collateral or settlement medium.

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