XRP Swept Up by Institutional Investors: Will It Lead the Bull Market After Reclaiming 3rd Place in Market Cap?

▲ XRP (XRP) ETF / ChatGPT Generated Image ©

Driven by massive whale accumulation and relentless institutional capital inflow, XRP (Ripple)-related spot funds are achieving record success, signaling a massive paradigm shift across the entire ecosystem.

According to TradingNews, an investment media outlet, on April 22 (local time), the XRPI fund rose 1.63% to $8.09, and the XRPR fund, managed by Rex-Osprey, closed at $11.81, up 1.72%, showing a dual bullish trend. Their total assets in the virtual asset spot fund market surpassed $1.43 billion, with $55.39 million flowing in over the past 7 days, achieving a monthly record net inflow of $65.89 million as of April 2026. Notably, Goldman Sachs emerged as a key institutional investor by revealing a $108 million position.

This explosive growth in the fund market aligns with the aggressive accumulation by whales confirmed in Santiment data. Large investors swept up approximately 360 million XRPs at the fastest pace in 10 months last week, injecting nearly $500 million in capital. However, for a full-fledged rally, there remains the challenge of thoroughly absorbing the formidable supply wall of 36.8 billion units positioned between $1.44 and $1.45 at spot prices, accompanied by substantial trading volume.

Driven by strong demand, XRP pushed aside Binance Coin (BNB) to claim the 3rd position in virtual asset market capitalization. Furthermore, it has embarked on ecosystem expansion by launching a wrapped token with $100 million in initial liquidity on the Solana (SOL) blockchain through Hextrust and LayerZero infrastructure. This signifies its entry into a broad decentralized finance ecosystem beyond traditional cross-border payments, and is regarded as a key catalyst to address the asset's structural undervaluation.

The issuer's long-term infrastructure reinforcement and large-scale wallet movements are also stimulating institutional investor sentiment. The transfer of 75 million tokens from its own wallet to a Coinbase custody address is highly speculated to be a custody transfer to meet fund demand rather than a simple sale. Furthermore, the roadmap to complete the adoption of quantum-resistant cryptography for the ledger by 2028 provides long-term security confidence to large institutions like banks, removing the biggest hurdle to fund inflows.

The future direction of fund and spot prices is expected to be influenced by macroeconomic relief, such as the extension of the Iran ceasefire, and regulatory easing trends, like the Clarity Act passing through the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. Market experts diagnose that if XRP spot prices strongly break through the $1.55 resistance level, related tracking funds could also unleash explosive asymmetric potential and experience a simultaneous vertical surge.

*Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only, and we are not responsible for any investment losses based on it. The content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.*