XRP Funds Draw Fresh Inflows as Bitcoin and Ether Products Bleed
XRP (XRP)-linked investment products attracted net inflows and posted a spike in newly created wallets on May 22, as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) funds bled assets for a third consecutive period. The divergence signals a possible rotation trade, with some investors trimming large-cap cryptocurrency exposure and reallocating into XRP products. Bitcoin held near $77,500 as outflows persisted.
XRP Fund Inflows Defy the Broader Trend
CoinDesk reported on May 22, that XRP-linked funds drew fresh net inflows while Bitcoin and Ether products continued to lose assets.
The report also recorded a spike in newly created XRP wallets, a metric that traders treat as a proxy for retail demand entering a network. The wallet growth adds a separate demand signal alongside the fund flow data.
Bitcoin ETF products have faced outflows as the leading cryptocurrency has held a tight range near $77,000 to $78,000. Ethereum (ETH) products have bled alongside them, with no clear catalyst to reverse the drift.
XRP, trading in positive territory on the day, bucked that pattern.
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Background
XRP fund flows have been a closely watched metric since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Ripple Labs reached a resolution in their long-running legal dispute in 2024.
That settlement cleared a major regulatory overhang from XRP, and spot XRP exchange-traded products subsequently launched in the United States in early 2025. Since launch, those products have drawn periodic institutional interest, though flows have been uneven.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange crossed $63 billion in cumulative XRP futures volume in May 2026, one year after launching the contracts, a milestone that underscores how deeply XRP derivatives have embedded into institutional trading infrastructure.
Bitcoin and Ether fund products, by contrast, have faced sustained outflows in recent weeks as macro caution kept risk appetite subdued. Bitcoin’s price has struggled to hold above $80,000 after touching cycle highs earlier in 2026.
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What to Watch
The sustainability of XRP’s inflow advantage depends on whether the wallet growth converts into sustained on-chain activity.
A one-session spike in new addresses can reflect promotional airdrops or speculative positioning rather than durable adoption. If Bitcoin ETF outflows continue past the current streak, pressure on BTC price could widen the performance gap between XRP and large-cap peers further.
Any reversal in macro sentiment, particularly around U.S. rate expectations, would likely pull capital back into Bitcoin and Ethereum products quickly, given their deeper liquidity and broader institutional base.
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