XRP's $1 Threshold Becomes a Battlefield as Institutions Quietly Accumulate
Published on 08/13/2026 at 13:11 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The digital asset's slide beneath the psychologically significant one-dollar mark — a level it had not breached since November 2024 — has set up a stark divergence between price action and positioning. XRP changed hands near $1.00 on Thursday, down roughly 0.3 percent on the day, with the weekly decline stretching to 5.3 percent. The token first slipped under the threshold on Tuesday, and year-to-date losses now stand at 45 percent, extending to 69 percent over the past twelve months.
What makes the current tape particularly unusual is the behavior of the largest holders. Data from Santiment shows wallets containing at least one million XRP increased by 32 over three months to surpass 2,000 — even as market capitalization contracted by 29 percent in the same window. Whales added roughly 380 million tokens, worth approximately $390 million, within a single week. Analysts read this as accumulation, though whether the buying is organic or coordinated remains an open question.
Canadian Banks Surface in ETF Filings While Goldman Trims
Institutional disclosure season has added texture to the accumulation narrative. The Bank of Montreal's latest 13F-HR filing with the SEC reveals holdings in two XRP-linked products: 323 shares of the REX Osprey XRP ETF and 20 shares of the ProShares Ultra XRP ETF. The positions are marginal against the bank's $303 billion total portfolio, yet the disclosure marks a notable entry point. The National Bank of Canada has also emerged as a holder, with roughly 3,848 shares of the Bitwise XRP ETF valued near $330,000.
Goldman Sachs, by contrast, reduced its XRP exposure through mid-year, while first-time holders including Arx Advisory, Gerber, Vista Finance and Gallagher Capital have appeared in regulatory filings. The ETF flows themselves tell a mixed story: the 21Shares XRP ETF lost 54.4 percent of its assets in the first half of 2026, sliding from $247.7 million to $112.9 million with a realized loss of $13.36 million. The Bitwise XRP ETF posted a net loss of $176.6 million over the same period yet still attracted $234.4 million in net inflows, doubling its XRP holdings to 286.8 million tokens.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying XRP?
Aviva Tokenizes a Fund on the XRP Ledger
Beyond the fund flows, a structural development has captured attention. Aviva Investors launched a tokenized share class of its US dollar liquidity fund on the XRP Ledger on Wednesday, built in collaboration with Ripple and approved by the Central Bank of Ireland. The underlying fund already manages roughly $1.23 billion across its other share classes. The initiative aligns with a UK Treasury report — backed by Chris Woolard — that highlights Ripple's role in tokenizing wholesale markets. The roadmap calls for tokenized repos, bonds and funds to move from pilot to live operation within twelve months, with the report citing Ripple's acquisition of Hidden Road and Santander UK's use of the Ripple blockchain as reference points.
Bridge Exploit Adds to Near-Term Pressure
The price action has been complicated by a security incident. An attacker siphoned approximately 200,000 XRP — worth around $202,000 — from the Coreum Bridge on August 9, exploiting a software vulnerability that allowed fake deposits to be treated as genuine. Operators halted the bridge and filed a complaint with the FBI. The XRP Ledger itself remained unaffected; only the external bridge infrastructure was compromised.
Derivatives markets reflect the tension. Open interest in XRP futures has climbed to 2.67 billion XRP, roughly $2.73 billion, the highest level since October. The funding rate spiked 211 percent to 0.03059 percent per eight hours, signaling aggressive long positioning in a falling market. Markus Thielen of 10x Research notes the market has barely priced in recent US inflation data, flagging $0.92 and, below that, $0.50 as potential support levels. The token currently sits 6.4 percent beneath its 50-day moving average of $1.08.
Regulatory Crosscurrents and a Ledger Upgrade
Two regulatory threads are converging. The SEC holds an open meeting on Friday to discuss a framework for "Regulation Crypto," while the CLARITY Act — legislation intended to provide clearer legal footing for digital assets — remains stalled in the Senate, pushed to mid-September. ETF expert Nate Geraci suggests that failure of the bill could actually give the Trump administration room to accelerate crypto regulation through existing SEC authority rather than waiting on Congress. Gareth Soloway sees potential for a rally of up to 100 percent if the legislation passes by October, while researcher SMOKE argues Ripple could expand via a national bank charter from the OCC, with conditional approval deadlines stretching to late 2026 and mid-2027.
On the technical side, Ripple is backing the fixCleanup3_3_0 amendment for XRP Ledger version 3.3.0, designed to address bugs in vaults, lending, automated market makers and the permissioned DEX. Eight of 35 validators have voted in favor so far; activation requires 28 votes over two weeks.
The picture for investors is bifurcated. Near-term headwinds — the bridge hack, elevated futures positioning and regulatory uncertainty — continue to weigh on the chart. Yet the Aviva partnership, persistent ETF buying from Canadian banks and whale accumulation point to institutional usage of the XRP Ledger advancing even as the price struggles. The one-dollar line remains the decisive test for now.
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