XRP’s $118 Million ETF Binge Meets a $1.86 Billion Liquidation Storm – Token Stalls at $1.22
03.06.2026 - 17:44:12 | boerse-global.de
Ripple is spending heavily on Washington lobbying, launching a stablecoin in one of the world’s biggest crypto markets, and watching institutional investors pour more than $100 million into XRP-based funds. Yet the token remains pinned near its lows, trapped between a historic market-wide wipeout and a deep well of on-chain optimism.
XRP changed hands at $1.22 on Wednesday, down roughly 35% from its start-of-year level and a staggering 66% below its 52-week peak of $3.56. The broader sell-off, which triggered more than $1.86 billion in forced liquidations across digital assets, has dragged the crypto fear gauge into “extreme fear” territory at a reading of 23. Bitcoin’s slide below $67,000 bled into every altcoin, and XRP was no exception – losing its grip on the $1.30 support that traders had watched as a psychological and technical floor.
Institutional Cash Keeps Piling In
Countering the price malaise, demand for XRP exposure among professional investors is accelerating. US spot XRP ETFs recorded net inflows of $118 million in May, the strongest monthly showing this year. Fund issuers including Bitwise, Canary Capital, and Franklin Templeton have been the primary beneficiaries. Goldman Sachs now stands as the largest institutional holder of XRP ETF shares, with roughly $154 million in assets under management across its positions. A total of 83 institutions disclosed XRP ETF holdings, pushing the segment’s total assets to about $1.21 billion.
Those flows continued into June: on the first day of the month, another $4.13 million entered XRP-linked products, even as Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs bled hundreds of millions in outflows. The divergence suggests that institutional appetite for XRP remains robust even while retail sentiment weakens.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying XRP?
Washington Office and Turkish Stablecoin Push
Ripple opened an expanded Washington D.C. office on June 2, placing its lobbying operation directly in the path of lawmakers. Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty described it as a central hub for engaging Congress and regulators on digital asset legislation. The timing is no coincidence: more than 100 crypto companies, including Coinbase and Kraken, have jointly called for a vote on the CLARITY Act, a bill that would create a clear classification framework for digital assets. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse called the window for regulatory clarity “wide open.”
On the product side, Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin is gaining traction abroad. The token, now backed by a market cap of $1.81 billion (up from $1.69 billion), launched in Turkey through partnerships with local exchanges BiLira, Bitexen, and Bitlo. Turkey is one of the largest crypto markets globally, with an annual trading volume of roughly $200 billion. RLUSD had already been integrated for deposits on Binance via the XRP Ledger since February.
The company also named Istanbul Technical University as a partner in its University Blockchain Research Initiative; the institution will operate an XRP Ledger validator.
Token Unlock Adds Pressure, But Whales Stay Put
A routine escrow release on June 1 added a fresh layer of supply overhang. Ripple unlocked 1 billion XRP from its trust contracts, quickly returning about 700 million back into new escrow agreements. The remaining unlocked tokens added to circulating supply while the company’s escrow balance stands at roughly 33.35 billion XRP. Such releases are watched closely by traders, though in this cycle the market’s selling pressure has been largely demand-driven from the broader rout.
Despite the price weakness, whale wallets are not exiting. Data from on-chain analytics shows that large XRP holders – those with at least 10 million tokens – continue to accumulate, even as the token trades 92% below its all-time peak of $3.10 (in Cardano’s case, but similar sentiment across the board). For XRP, the whales’ behavior mirrors that of other ecosystems: institutions buy the dip while retail sells.
Catalysts on the Horizon
The biggest wild card remains US regulatory action. The CLARITY Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee on May 14, briefly pushing XRP to $1.54 before profit-taking and broad market headwinds erased those gains. A full Senate vote could act as a powerful catalyst, though no date has been set.
XRP at a turning point? This analysis reveals what investors need to know now.
Meanwhile, Evernorth Holdings – a Ripple-backed entity – has filed an amended S-4 with the SEC for a Nasdaq listing under the ticker “XRPN.” The company is building an “XRP Treasury” backed by over $1 billion in investor commitments from strategic backers including SBI Holdings and Pantera Capital.
Standard Chartered, for its part, cut its 2026 price target for XRP from $8 to $2.80 in February, but maintained a long-term view that sees the token reaching $28 by 2030.
Technically, XRP’s RSI sits at 59 – not yet oversold – and the token has lost both the $1.30 support and the momentum from the CLARITY Act spike. The path to a recovery likely requires Bitcoin to reclaim the $73,000–$75,000 zone that would reset market sentiment. Until then, Ripple’s political and infrastructure wins remain priced in as optionality rather than a near-term catalyst for the token itself.
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