XRP ETFs face first monthly outflow despite strong institutional support

XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are heading toward their first monthly net outflow since their late-2025 debut, breaking the momentum that helped make them one of crypto’s strongest early product launches outside Bitcoin.

Data from SoSoValue showed that the four funds have registered $28 million in net redemptions this month. This is also corroborated by CoinShares data, which shows that XRP-linked global funds were the worst-performing asset class in March, with $130 million in net outflows.

The reversal comes after a launch phase that pushed cumulative net inflows to about $1.2 billion in four months, a pace that helped make XRP one of the more closely watched altcoin ETFs outside Bitcoin and Ethereum.

A negative month after that start does not, by itself, establish that institutions have moved on. However, it shows that launch demand has slowed, and that the next phase of the trade will need support from something deeper than first-wave enthusiasm.

Fund flows cool, but the institutional case is still alive

Still, the softer March tape has not erased the broader institutional footprint around the product category.

In a SEC filing, Goldman Sachs disclosed more than $152 million in exposure across four spot XRP ETFs, giving the token a level of traditional-finance sponsorship that many altcoins still lack.

Moreover, the March ETF outflows do not capture the full extent to which asset managers, banks, custodians, and trading firms are positioning around the token or the network behind it.

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Available data indicate that the broader picture remains constructive. In a January 2026 survey by Coinbase and EY-Parthenon of 351 institutional investors with influence over allocation decisions, 18% of respondents were already allocated to XRP, and 25% planned to add it in 2026.

More broadly, 73% said they planned to increase digital-asset allocations this year, while 65% of those planning to add exposure cited greater regulatory clarity and confidence in compliance frameworks as a key driver.

The report pointed out that institutional investors are placing more weight on regulated vehicles, custody, trading capabilities, and tokenization infrastructure than they did a year ago.

EY and Coinbase said 69% of respondents planned to prioritize trading capabilities over the next two years, while 76% of asset owners and asset managers prioritized custody.

At the same time, regulatory compliance and security also rose sharply in importance when firms evaluated custody partners.

That backdrop leaves room for XRP demand to persist even if ETF subscriptions cool. It shows that institutions are moving from first-wave beta exposure into second-wave infrastructure decisions that would determine their long-term conviction about a token.

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Ripple expands deeper into the institutional stack

That distinction is important because Ripple has spent the past year broadening its role far beyond a single payments narrative.

The company’s current offering now spans payments, custody, stablecoins, treasury tools, and prime brokerage, giving institutions more entry points into the XRP and XRP Ledger (XRPL) ecosystems than a spot ETF alone.

Ripple said its $1 billion acquisition of GTreasury was designed to deepen its presence in corporate finance, while Ripple Prime, the business created from its Hidden Road acquisition, offers institutional clients prime brokerage, clearing, and financing across digital assets, including XRP and RLUSD.

That makes an XRP’s price exposure more layered than the ETF numbers suggest. A March outflow in listed products can occur as Ripple seeks to capture a larger share of the institutional transaction chain, from execution and custody to treasury operations and collateral management.

In that model, the value of XRP is less tied to a single monthly fund flow print and more to whether the surrounding network continues to attract durable, regulated, and large-enough usage to support real volume.

Ripple has also continued to push that strategy into its licensing efforts across jurisdictions, including Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, and, more recently, Australia. The firm says it is licensed in over 70 jurisdictions and its payment product has processed over $100 billion in transactions.

XRPL’s tokenization push gives institutions another reason to stay engaged

Meanwhile, the XRPL network itself is also being repositioned for a more compliance-heavy institutional market.

XRPL now has compliance tooling, real-time settlement, and asset-layer programmability live on mainnet. These tools, including permissioned domains and a permissioned DEX, are intended to create regulated environments where access can be controlled through credentials and compliance checks.

Notably, Ripple has consistently maintained that XRP remains central to that design through transaction fees, reserve requirements, and its role as a bridge asset in foreign-exchange and lending flows.

Interestingly, XRPL’s expanding tokenization footprint adds another layer to why institutional interest remains strong in XRP.

Data from RWA.xyz shows that XRPL has broken into the top 10 chains for real-world assets and has already recorded more than $1 billion in monthly stablecoin volume. The network also boasts a growing list of institutional issuers and partners, including Ondo Finance, OpenEden, Archax, and Société Générale-FORGE.

Those developments line up with what institutions say they want. EY and Coinbase found that 86% of respondents either already use or are interested in using stablecoins, with T+0 settlement and internal cash management among the top use cases.

The survey also said investor interest in tokenized assets rose to 63%, while 61% expected tokenization to have a significant impact on trading, clearing, and settlement over the next three to five years.

XRP now sits between weaker ETF momentum and a cleaner market setup

Against that backdrop, XRP stands in an interesting position, with ETF momentum weakening but the institutional case for the broader Ripple and XRPL stack continuing to expand.

Data from CryptoSlate shows that XRP price action reflects that tension. XRP has been trading around the $1.40 level, with attempts to move higher stalling.

At the same time, CryptoQuant data showed Binance’s estimated leverage ratio for XRP had fallen to 0.134, its lowest reading since 2024, while the token’s open interest had been reset lower.

Meanwhile, XRP’s spot and perpetual cumulative volume delta has improved by about $315 million over the past two days without a large expansion in leverage. That combination points to a less crowded derivatives market than the one that helped fuel earlier swings.

For XRP’s progress, any upward price movement may depend on whether the ETF slowdown proves temporary or whether the broader institutional buildout becomes more evident in trading volumes, liquidity, and secondary-market demand.