Institutions Go Bullish on Ripple's $XRP: ETF Inflows Surge in 2026

Institutional money is quietly rotating into XRP while Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs bleed capital. According to CoinShares data, XRP investment products have attracted roughly $148 million in year-to-date inflows through mid-February 2026. During the same period, Bitcoin products have shed over $1 billion, and Ethereum has lost $458 million. That's not a rounding error. That's a deliberate shift in how regulated capital is positioning itself across crypto.

Four straight weeks of outflows have drained $3.74 billion from crypto funds overall. XRP is one of the few assets still pulling fresh money in.

Why Are Institutions Choosing XRP Over BTC and ETH?

The answer comes down to three things: regulatory clarity, utility, and relative value.

XRP's legal cloud lifted after Ripple's SEC settlement in 2025. That gave institutional allocators something they rarely get in crypto: certainty. Bitcoin and Ethereum still carry open questions around custody concentration, staking classification, and policy shifts. XRP doesn't have that overhang, and the ETF flow data reflects it.

There's also the payments angle. Ripple's cross-border settlement infrastructure gives XRP a use case that goes beyond speculation. Franklin Templeton's David Mann has publicly called XRP "foundational" for cross-border settlement. When asset managers talk like that, pension funds listen.

Then there's price. XRP entered 2026 already beaten down, trading around $1.40 to $1.45 after falling roughly 60% from its July 2025 high of $3.65. For institutions looking at entry points, that's a very different risk profile than buying BTC near all-time highs.

What Do the ETF Numbers Actually Look Like?

Seven U.S. spot XRP ETFs are now live, with combined assets under management sitting at approximately $1.06 billion and roughly 793 million XRP tokens locked in custody. That represents about 1.17% of XRP's total market cap. For comparison, Bitcoin ETFs hold 6.31% of BTC's market cap, and Ethereum ETFs hold 4.75% of ETH's.

Cumulative net inflows since spot XRP ETFs began launching in late 2025 have reached between $1.2 billion and $1.37 billion, depending on the tracker. The products went 35 consecutive trading days without a single net outflow after launch. Neither Bitcoin nor Ethereum ETFs managed that kind of consistency in their early days.

The week ending February 13 clearly told the broader story. XRP products pulled in $33.4 million while Bitcoin shed $133 million and Ethereum lost $85.1 million. The rotation is visible in the weekly data, not just the headlines.

Active U.S. spot XRP ETFs include REX Osprey's XRPR, Canary Capital's XRPC, Franklin Templeton's XRPZ, 21Shares' TOXR, Bitwise's XRP, Grayscale's GXRP, and CoinShares' XRPL. Fee structures are competitive, ranging from 0.30% to 0.75%, with major custodians like Coinbase Custody handling the backend.

Who's Behind the Buying?

Some big names have shown their hand. Goldman Sachs disclosed $153 million in XRP holdings in its Q4 2025 13F filing. Jane Street Group has emerged as a significant holder across multiple XRP ETFs, ranking as the third-largest holder in the Bitwise fund. Grayscale has noted that XRP is the second-most discussed asset among its institutional clients, behind only Bitcoin.

These aren't retail speculators chasing a pump. This is structural capital making deliberate allocation decisions. But the question worth asking is whether the price actually reflects that conviction yet.

Does Price Action Match the Optimism?

Not yet, and that's the honest part of this story. XRP dropped roughly 30% in February despite the steady inflows. The token hit $1.11 before bouncing back to around $1.40. Retail interest has faded. Social metrics and on-chain data both show declining retail engagement even as whale accumulation continues.

Standard Chartered recently cut its year-end XRP price target from $8 to $2.80, citing potential ETF fatigue. That's a significant downgrade from one of the more bullish institutional voices. The bank still sees upside from current levels, but the initial euphoria around XRP ETFs may be cooling.

February has historically been XRP's worst month, with losses in 7 of 11 Februarys since 2014. The difference this year is that ETF inflows provide a structural floor that didn't exist before.

What Comes Next?

Exchange balances for XRP sit at eight-year lows. With ETFs locking nearly 793 million tokens in custody and retail selling pressure fading, the available circulating supply keeps shrinking. If inflows hold their current pace and broader market conditions stabilize, the case for a recovery toward the $2.50 to $3.50 range by late 2026 looks plausible.

But "if" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. A delayed Fed rate cut, a broader market shock, or slowing ETF demand could all stall the momentum. The institutional bid is real. Whether it's enough to overcome macro headwinds is the question the rest of 2026 will answer.

Sources:

• CoinShares Weekly digital asset fund flows report, February 2026
• BlockNow US XRP ETFs now hold 1.17% of XRP's market cap, February 19, 2026
• BitcoinEthereumNews XRP tops BTC, ETH in institutional flows; Standard Chartered lowers 2026 forecast
• Yahoo Finance XRP ETF inflows hit $1.37 billion after month-long zero outflow streak
• Disruption Banking XRP ETF boom: $1.4B inflows in early 2026
• XRP Insights Live XRP ETF tracker dashboard with AUM, holdings, and flow data
• 247 Wall St. XRP price outlook: Will XRP break its February curse in 2026?
• AInvest XRP exchange reserves plummet to 8-year lows, January 3, 2026
• SoSoValue XRP ETF net asset and flow data
• CoinGlass XRP ETF fund flows tracker