Ripple’s global payments narrative may be gaining fresh momentum as one of its key partners, Thunes, unveils a new development that could further strengthen cross-border settlement infrastructure. As the demand for faster, cheaper, and more efficient international payments continues to rise, strategic partnerships like Thunes play a crucial role in expanding real-world utility across the XRP ecosystem.
Thunes Expands Its Role In The Global Payments Ecosystem
A recent announcement from Thunes could significantly strengthen XRP’s position in the global payments landscape. Analyst XFinanceBull on X has revealed that the company has officially launched real-time payment capabilities in the United States through a direct connection with a Tier 1 financial institution, enabling access to ACH, Same-Day ACH, and all real-time payment rails.
The development comes as Thunes continues to strengthen its international footprint. Thunes holds 50 Money Transmitter Licenses, allowing it to operate across every US state and territory, mirroring Ripple’s regulatory reach. Both companies now independently have institutional-grade access to US clearing systems.
Thunes network already spans 140 countries, supports 90 currencies, and connects to more than 12 billion mobile wallets, stablecoin wallets, and bank account endpoints. Following its expanded partnership with Ripple in September 2025, Thunes integrated blockchain and digital asset technology into its direct global network, leveraging Ripple payments to enhance its SmartX Treasury System.
Meanwhile, Thunes has plugged real-time US settlement into the same network that uses the Ripple blockchain payments infrastructure and XRP as a bridge asset. Over 140 countries can now send money to the US through rails connected to Ripple technology.
Ripple payments have near-global coverage with over 90 payout markets processing more than $70 billion in volume. This integration gives XRP a direct pathway into Tier 1 US banking through a partner that holds licenses in every state.
Institutional Interest Fuels XRP Ledger’s Next Phase Of Growth
The XRP Ledger real-world asset (RWA) ecosystem officially surpassed $3 billion in tokenized value in April. According to an analyst known as BankXRP on X, the incredible insights shared by Luke Judges, Partner Director at RippleX, at Istanbul Blockchain Week, break down exactly where the momentum is heading for real-world asset tokenization. Furthermore, the $3 billion milestone is driven by a highly diversified mix of assets, underscoring Ledger’s expanding institutional utility across multiple segments of finance.
Looking ahead, the next big wave of growth is expected to center around cash and cash-equivalent assets. Money market funds and US Treasury bills, alongside tokenized equities, are being viewed as prime targets for infrastructure disruption. The broader vision is moving toward a globally distributed financial system where regulated assets can trade seamlessly across asset classes through a unified order book.
XRP bull Jake Claver argues that Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin does not weaken the case for XRP, but may instead reinforce it by bringing more institution-friendly dollar liquidity onto the XRP Ledger. In a thread on X, Claver said the two assets are built for different roles: RLUSD as a compliant digital dollar, and XRP as the neutral bridge asset that allows value to move between otherwise fragmented markets.
The argument responds to a recurring question in the XRP community: if RLUSD can move money in seconds, why does XRP still need to exist? Claver said that framing misses the distinction between a settlement asset and a routing asset.
“RLUSD is not the finish line. It is the front door,” Claver wrote. “Institutions come for a compliant digital dollar. Once they are on the ledger they start asking bigger questions. Can we tokenize securities here? Settle trades instantly? Drop the 3 day wait.”
XRP As The Ledger’s “Money Changer”
To explain the point, Claver used the analogy of an old trading port where merchants arrive with silk, spices, wool, salt and gold, but rarely hold exactly what another trader wants. A silk trader looking for pepper may first need to trade into wool before finally reaching the spice seller. With only ten goods, he noted, that creates 45 possible trading pairs; with a hundred goods, the number rises to almost 5,000.
His conclusion is that markets need a neutral asset in the middle to reduce friction. On the XRP Ledger, Claver said, that role is played by XRP.
“On the surface that looks like one trade. Underneath it is two. He buys your silk and sells you silver, both at once. Remove that money changer and the whole port slows to a crawl. On the XRP Ledger, XRP plays that exact role,” he wrote.
Claver gave the example of someone swapping a tokenized Treasury bill for a euro stablecoin. In his framing, the user may only see one asset going in and another coming out, but the routing path can move through XRP in between. “The trader never sees the XRP step. Asset goes in, the one they want comes out. XRP sits quietly in the middle making it work,” he said.
Why RLUSD Does Not Replace XRP
Claver described RLUSD as a digital dollar designed to remain stable at one dollar and backed by real reserves in a bank. That makes it useful when both sides of a transaction want dollar exposure. But he argued that many future XRP Ledger use cases may not end in dollars at all, including tokenized Treasuries moving into euro funds, lending markets in non-dollar currencies, or other asset-to-asset transactions.
“RLUSD is perfect anytime both sides of a trade want dollars at the end. Plenty of trades do,” Claver wrote. “But plenty do not. Tokenized Treasuries swapping into euro funds. Lending in other currencies. Any trade where neither side is USD. There, a dollar coin cannot sit in the middle.”
He then pointed to three limitations that, in his view, prevent RLUSD from becoming the ledger’s universal bridge asset. First, RLUSD has an issuer and therefore carries issuer-specific risk. If the company behind it faces legal, banking, or operational problems, the stablecoin could be affected. XRP, by contrast, is not minted by an issuer and cannot be switched off by a single company, he argued.
Second, Claver said a global routing asset needs to be neutral. Regulated stablecoins must comply with sanctions, blacklists and regional rules, and can freeze tokens or block certain users. That may be appropriate for a regulated dollar product, but Claver argued it is less suitable for a base-level bridge asset.
Third, liquidity pools need two different assets. RLUSD can sit in pools against euro stablecoins, tokenized Treasuries or other instruments, but it cannot be both sides of the market. Claver said the asset most likely to become the primary routing layer is one that is liquid, neutral, free of issuer risk and already proven over time. His answer was XRP.
XRP is giving traders a contradiction that separates flow data from actual market control.
The token has been trading around the low-$1.30s after hitting its weakest level in roughly 15 weeks, even as two data points bulls often treat as supportive moved in the other direction.
Spot XRP ETFs have continued to attract money, with cumulative inflows around $1.42 billion, while late-May exchange-flow data showed more than 25 million XRP moving off exchanges after a prior inflow.
That combination would normally invite a simple accumulation case. Less XRP on exchanges can mean less immediately available sell-side supply. ETF inflows can show that regulated wrappers are still drawing capital.
Yet price action points to something colder: neither signal has been enough to stop sellers from setting the marginal price.
CryptoSlate’s XRP market page showed the asset near $1.30 on June 1, with a market cap around $80.87 billion and roughly $1.62 billion in 24-hour volume.
The token remains a top-five crypto asset by market value, but that size has not protected it from a market where rebounds are still being sold.
ETF demand remains indirect
The ETF side of the story has the clearest bullish potential.
SoSoValue data puts late-May spot XRP ETF inflows at roughly $11.8 million on May 29, taking cumulative net inflows to about $1.4 billion. Investor demand for XRP exposure through regulated products has continued during the latest drawdown.
ETF inflows are separate from immediate control of the spot market. They show that capital is entering a wrapper. They do not prove that enough aggressive buying is hitting exchange order books at the moment sellers are pressing sell orders through the market.
XRP has already spent much of May showing the same disconnect.
A recent analysis of XRP’s bullish signals found that ETF inflows, exchange withdrawals, and rising ledger activity had built a constructive setup, while price action still failed to follow.
The June 1 low moves that setup forward from a stalled bullish case to a clearer test of whether those flows can support the token before traders give up on the support zone.
Signal
Bullish case
Offsetting pressure
Spot XRP ETF inflows
Regulated-product demand remains visible
Wrapper demand has yet to overpower spot selling
Late-May exchange outflows
Less XRP may be available for immediate selling
The flow followed a large exchange inflow and covers a short window
XRP still near the top of market rankings
Liquidity and attention remain deep relative to most altcoins
The token is still near a 15-week low
Prior accumulation signals
Bulls can argue that supply is being absorbed
Price keeps treating rebounds as sell zones
The table shows the risk in reading ETF demand in isolation. Each constructive signal has a plausible bullish interpretation, but each also has an offsetting pressure that carries more weight for price right now.
What traders need to ask now is whether those flows are strong enough, direct enough, or immediate enough to change who controls spot trading.
Santiment showed a 22.80 million XRP exchange inflow before the balance reversed, with about 25.24 million XRP moving off exchanges in late May.
The second part of that sequence can look constructive. Coins leaving exchanges often reduce the supply available for fast selling and can point to custody, accumulation, or positioning away from trading venues.
In a stronger market, such a move could help confirm a bounce.
A 22.80 million XRP inflow shows that meaningful supply had also moved toward exchanges before the reversal.
The outflow that followed carries weight, but it leaves the earlier sign of sell-side pressure in the picture. It also cannot prove by itself that buyers are willing to absorb spot supply at higher prices.
The price response shows why the distinction counts. If XRP moves off exchanges and the price still falls to a multi-month low, visible exchange balances are only one part of the pressure.
Spot demand, order-book depth, leverage, and trader confidence can all carry more weight in the immediate window.
CryptoSlate’s XRP data also shows why centralized exchange behavior can be impactful: XRP’s 24-hour CEX volume was around $1.62 billion, compared with DEX volume of about $1.4 million.
For this market, the main price signal is still being formed on centralized venues, so exchange flows and liquidity conditions are where the ETF and accumulation narratives meet live selling.
The sell-zone pattern has been building for months. An earlier analysis found that XRP losses were forcing late buyers out and turning rebounds into fresh selling areas.
The latest low suggests that behavior has not fully cleared. Outflows can reduce potential supply, but they cannot repair sentiment if traders keep using every bounce to exit.
The strongest explanation for the contradiction is market structure.
XRP can keep some bullish signals and still leave sellers in control when liquidity is thin enough, and spot conviction weak enough, for marginal selling to push through supportive flow headlines.
A recent look at XRP liquidity found that Binance’s 30-day XRP liquidity index was near 0.043, its lowest level since January 2020, while all-exchange open interest hovered near $2.9 billion and futures volume ran at about 6.8 times spot volume.
Under those conditions, price can move sharply even when the broader story contains bullish data points.
Thin liquidity changes how flow signals should be understood. In a deep market, ETF inflows and exchange outflows may help absorb selling pressure over time.
In a less liquid market, a smaller burst of spot selling can still move price, especially if derivatives activity is high and traders are leaning on the same levels.
Broader ETF rotation is less important here than it might look at first. XRP inflows have stood out at times while Bitcoin and Ethereum products faced pressure, and CryptoSlate has covered that ETF rotation.
Relative ETF strength is different from outright price strength. XRP can attract capital through one channel and still fall if the spot market is weaker, less liquid, or more leveraged than the inflow headline suggests.
For now, the next test is price, rather than another bullish data point. Buyers need to make the supportive flow signals visible in the chart.
A recovery through the low-$1.30s and a reclaim of the $1.34 area would show that buyers are finally absorbing visible sell pressure.
A loss of the $1.31 area while ETF inflows and exchange outflows remain constructive would strengthen the opposite case: XRP can have institutional wrapper demand and apparent accumulation without giving bulls control of the spot market.
So there is still a contradiction here. The flows say some capital is still moving toward XRP. The price says sellers are still winning.
Ripple’s march to full banking status is one of the biggest talking points among members of the XRP community, with some analysts and enthusiasts asking whether the regulatory milestone could serve as the factor that pushes XRP into price territory it has never previously reached. The company’s balance sheet, its growing institutional presence, and XRPL-native infrastructure developments are combining to project bold predictions, including a target of $25 per coin.
Ripple’s Banking Approval Is Important
In December 2025, Ripple received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national bank charter, which is a milestone no other crypto-native company had achieved. The charter is designed to clear the way for Ripple National Trust Bank, which will custody and manage reserves for Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin.
A viral claim on the social media platform X from XRP enthusiast account KingXRP describes Ripple as having “officially obtained a banking license,” with its valuation pushed above $120 billion. That sentencing captures the excitement around the development, but it leaves out important context.
The OCC conditionally approved Ripple’s application to establish Ripple National Trust Bank. However, Ripple has also applied for a Federal Reserve master account, which would allow the trust bank to plug directly into FedWire and FedNow systems and hold dollar reserves at the central bank. That access, if granted, would place Ripple inside the core infrastructure of the US payments system.
What XRP Would Need To Reach $25
Ripple’s last widely reported private valuation was around $40 billion following a $500 million strategic investment round. However, Ripple does own an estimated 42 billion XRP on its balance sheet. Around 4.5 billion to 6.4 billion XRP are held directly in company wallets, while roughly 33 billion XRP are locked in cryptographic escrow accounts. If Ripple is in possession of 40 billion XRP and the price returns to trading at $3, those holdings alone would be worth about $120 billion on paper.
A move to $25 would require XRP to become far more than an asset responding to headlines, and its banking approval would need to feed into a much broader adoption cycle. At a current circulating supply of about 61.9 billion XRP, a $25 price would place its market value above $1.5 trillion. According to KingXRP, if XRP moves beyond $25, Ripple’s balance sheet alone could surpass $240 billion, potentially placing the company among the top 10 banks globally.
Speaking of the banking approval feeding into a broader adoption cycle, infrastructure is being built on top of the XRP Ledger. One of the more concrete developments involves RealFi Payment Solutions, which recently announced that it has officially partnered with Shopify to develop the first XRP Ledger-powered payment rewards application for global e-commerce.
The XRP Ledger is moving through another important update process, and this one is not only about adding new features. Version 3.2.0 is now in development, according to XRPL validator Vet, who said the update is meant to further strengthen the foundation that XRP runs on.
The upcoming XRP Ledger update is less about short-term price hype and more about what it says about the network’s direction, following the recent activation of version 3.1.3 in early May.
XRP Ledger Version 3.2.0 Is Coming
XRP Ledger version 3.1.3 is now active, and attention has now moved to what comes next for the network. Hussein Zangana, Director of Community at the XRP Ledger Foundation, known on X as Vet, confirmed that version 3.2.0 is currently in development, describing it as an update to further strengthen the foundation on which the XRP Ledger is built.
According to Vet, update 3.2.0 is in development to further strengthen the foundation XRP is living on. He specifically mentioned AI-powered red team and blue team work, alongside attackathons and bug bounties, saying these efforts have delivered strong results. Update 3.2.0 may not be the update that introduces the loudest feature, but it appears to be part of the work needed to make the ledger safer for deeper financial activity.
Speaking of updates that introduce features, the incoming upgrade follows the May 8 release of XRP Ledger version 3.1.3. According to the official XRPL blog, version 3.1.3 introduced the fixCleanup3_1_3 amendment, which included fixes for NFTs, Permissioned Domains, Vaults, and the Lending Protocol. The release set the default vote to Yes because of the importance of the fixes.
That update is important because it came soon after version 3.1.0 introduced Single Asset Vaults and the Lending Protocol in January. The official XRPL release notes described Single Asset Vaults as pools of a single asset for use with the Lending Protocol, which is a system that allows fixed-term, uncollateralized loans using pooled funds from those vaults.
How The New Update Affects XRP Holders
There’s currently no timeline as to when version 3.2.0 will be released, but the update should be viewed as an infrastructure update that might not really have an effect on the price action. Still, these updates affect the long-term holder case in major ways. For one, an ecosystem with steady major updates shows an active community, which in turn can support confidence around XRP’s price action over time.
Version 3.1.3 has already shown that XRPL developers are cleaning up the newer parts of the protocol, especially around NFTs, Vaults, Permissioned Domains, and Lending. Version 3.2.0 now appears to push that work further by strengthening the foundation of the XRP Ledger.
XRP could climb as high as $20 if a breakout pattern from 2018 repeats itself, according to pseudonymous Korean financial analyst Ninedex.
That scenario, while not his main call, hinges on the token breaking out of the upper edge of a channel structure that has shaped its price movement for over a decade.
The Long Road From $1.34
XRP is currently trading around $1.34, down nearly 13% from its May 14 high of $1.54. Despite the pullback, Ninedex argues the token is still holding a key support zone within what he describes as a multi-year ascending channel — one that has guided XRP since it began trading in 2013.
Based on his analysis, that support sits just above the lower boundary of the channel’s middle layer and aligns with the Fibonacci 0.382 level, which corresponds to the $1.40 price area.
The zone was built over an extended period between 2022 and 2024, which is why he considers it one of the strongest long-term support levels in XRP’s history.
XRP spent its early years in the lower section of that channel before a broad crypto rally in early 2017 pushed it into the middle range. It briefly entered the upper channel in January 2018 when prices surged above $3, but a sharp correction followed and pulled it back into the middle layer.
Ninedex says the token has stayed there for the past eight years, and its ability to hold that zone is what keeps it among the major assets in the market rather than slipping back to minor status.
26.05.25 리플 코인 분석.
리플 주봉을 분석해보겠습니다.
리플의 경우 철저히 자본팽창을 추종하며,
연성장 32%의 기울기를 가지고 있으며,
14년~16년이후 소형알트에서 메이저 알트가 되며,
채널이 한 계단 상승하였습니다.
(옥석이 가려진 몇몇 소형 알트들의 미래라고 생각함.)
The transition from a small altcoin to a top-tier asset happened precisely because XRP moved up a layer in the channel during that 2017 cycle, he argues.
Technicals Back The Bullish Read
Ninedex pointed to two technical signals that support his outlook. The weekly stochastic indicator has bounced from 15 points to 20 points — a level he says has historically marked one of XRP’s rare oversold conditions.
The MACD, meanwhile, has formed a golden cross on its EMA lines, with the oscillator moving back into positive territory, which he reads as a sign that market momentum is turning upward.
His primary target is $5, reachable if XRP climbs toward the upper boundary of the middle channel. But he also noted that XRP’s history of sharp rallies and its large community base could push prices well beyond typical expectations — and if it breaks into the upper channel again, $20 becomes the figure he has in mind.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
XRP has spent the better part of three months going nowhere while Bitcoin (BTC) climbed from around $60,000 to $80,000, and one chart analyst is done pretending otherwise.
According to them, the gap between community expectation and actual market performance has rarely looked wider.
XRP Has Been Losing Ground to Bitcoin Since 2017
UK-based technical analyst ChartNerd laid it out plainly in a post on Monday:
“I’m sorry to break this to my $XRP community. I’m just tired of the constant hopium: we have been underperforming Bitcoin since 2017, with NO signs of any major rotation. In fact, over the last 3 months, BTC has climbed 60K-80K while $XRP/BTC has lost its 20 MEMA.”
That 20-period exponential moving average on the XRP/BTC pair is a metric traders use to track medium-term momentum in one asset relative to another. Losing it, as ChartNerd’s chart shows, puts the pair back toward the bottom of its long-term range.
Historically, that lower zone is where XRP has delivered its most explosive outperformance against Bitcoin, including the one in November 2024. But the analyst is careful not to spin that as a near-term buy signal. The pattern has to confirm first, and right now, the breakdown is what has confirmed.
“While BTC has climbed 60-80K, $XRP has done nothing but trend sideways, all while the XRP/BTC pair is breaking down,” ChartNerd added in a follow-up post.
In a separate May 21 update, the analyst noted the XRP/BTC pair had been declining for 15 consecutive weeks, directly explaining why XRP’s USD price had gone essentially flat over the same period.
“I expect $XRP will likely underperform against Bitcoin for the majority of the year,” he wrote.
Subdued Short-Term Outlook
The short-term picture is similarly subdued, with XRP trading around $1.36 at the time of writing, within a tight 24-hour range of $1.34 to $1.37.
ChartNerd has identified $1.30 as a key support level, and he expects resistance in the $1.40 territory on any recovery attempt, describing that zone as a potential support/resistance flip.
His longer-range bear case points toward the $0.90-$0.70 area if broader conditions deteriorate, while he has noted that XRP’s 2-week regression band lower boundary is currently sitting near $1.00.
Bitcoin, meanwhile, is trading around $77,000 after a rough stretch that saw it drop to just above $74,000 last week. However, it has recovered on news of progress in US-Iran peace talks, and its dominance over the rest of crypto has remained above 58%.
That high dominance figure is itself part of what is weighing on XRP and most altcoins: when Bitcoin is absorbing the majority of capital flow, altcoins tend to lag.
XRP’s recent price action reflects growing indecision, with volatility contracting on higher timeframes while shorter-term charts show repeated reactions from established support and resistance zones. Such compression periods often precede significant directional moves, making the upcoming sessions particularly important for the asset.
Ripple Price Analysis: The Daily Chart
On the daily timeframe, XRP remains trapped beneath the descending long-term trendline while simultaneously struggling around the 100-day moving average near the $1.38 region. This moving average has recently acted as dynamic resistance, preventing buyers from sustaining upward momentum.
The price is also approaching the narrowing section of the broader descending channel structure, suggesting that a breakout event may be developing. As volatility compresses, XRP appears to be entering a decision zone where prolonged consolidation becomes less likely.
Currently, the primary resistance remains the $1.75-$1.85 supply region, while stronger resistance is located around the 200-day MA near $2.0. On the downside, the key support sits around the $1.10-$1.20 demand zone.
The most probable scenario in the near term is continued compression around the 100-day MA at $1.38, followed by an impulsive breakout. A bullish breakout above the descending channel and $1.40-$1.45 area could trigger recovery toward the $1.75-$1.85 resistance region. Conversely, rejection from current levels may reinforce the broader bearish trend and expose lower supports once again.
XRP/USDT 4-Hour Chart
The 4-hour chart presents a clearer range-bound structure. XRP has been oscillating between support around the $1.27-$1.30 zone and resistance near $1.53-$1.57 for several weeks, forming a relatively stable consolidation range.
Most recently, the price revisited the lower boundary of this range near $1.30, triggering another bullish reaction. This suggests buyers continue defending the support area, increasing the possibility of a short-term move higher.
As long as XRP holds above the $1.30 support region, the path toward the upper boundary around $1.53-$1.57 remains open. Such a move would represent a corrective bullish swing inside the broader sideways structure rather than confirmation of a larger trend reversal.
However, repeated tests of support tend to weaken demand over time. Therefore, failure to maintain the $1.30 level could invalidate the consolidation range and increase the probability of renewed downside pressure. For now, the market structure favors continued ranging behavior, with the upper resistance zone near $1.55 acting as the primary target for any short-term recovery.
The entire crypto market has been down by over 5% in the past seven days, and the XRP price has also struggled to hold momentum, but the latest volume updates show that traders, large holders, ETF investors, and XRP Ledger users are still active.
Major XRP Volume Updates
The first major volume update is tied to XRP’s largest holders. Data shared by crypto analyst Ali Martinez shows that large wallet holders accumulated 71 million XRP over seven days, even as the token remained under pressure. XRP was down nearly 5% over the week and traded around $1.36 at the time the analyst shared the data, showing that the buying came during a weak and volatile stretch for the asset.
This is important because whale accumulation changes the tone of the selloff. It shows that the market crash is not only producing fear-based selling, but it is also creating a trend where larger wallets are increasing exposure while weaker hands are selling. The price has not yet reflected that buying in a major way, but the behavior is still worth watching.
XRP Ledger payment activity has also strengthened notably during the latest stretch of the market downturn. The number of payments from one account to another climbed from below the 1 million count earlier in the week to 1.22 million payments by May 22.
The rise was not limited to transaction count alone. XRP payment volume also increased from levels near 200 million XRP around May 16 and May 17 to more than 400 million XRP by May 18.
The figure stayed elevated through the following days and was still above the 400 million XRP region by May 22. That means more payments were being processed, and a larger amount of XRP was also moving between accounts.
Another important volume signal is coming from the ETF market. Data from SoSoValue shows that XRP-linked ETF products recorded more than $65 million in weekly inflows last week. This week’s flow also came up to a positive $22.04 million with net inflows everyday, even as the broader crypto market was under pressure.
The inflows into Spot XRP ETFs have significance because ETF inflows are a different kind of demand from regular exchange trading. Spot and futures volume can be based on short-term trades and leverage trading, but ETF inflows are investors taking exposure through more structured investment vehicles.
The timing also matters. XRP ETF flows are coming in while the price is under pressure, meaning ETF buyers are not waiting for a price breakout. This creates a quiet support layer in the background, even if it has not been strong enough to overpower the wider market downtrend yet.
Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView
XRP’s supply mechanism is one of the most controversial talking points in the crypto market. XRP exchange reserves have been falling for months, and the on-chain numbers are glaring. Now, a crypto pundit on X is connecting that structural shift to a chain of events that could send the XRP price into territory the market has never seen.
XRP Supply Shock Could Push Exchanges Into A Liquidity Crisis
A crypto pundit known as DelCrxpto has added an interesting angle to a scenario where XRP demand overwhelms available exchange supply and forces a new liquidity structure around Ripple’s XRP reserves. Whenever demand rises faster than available supply, price must adjust. XRP could eventually reach a point where exchanges struggle to source enough spot supply to meet demand from buyers, institutions, and liquidity providers.
The pundit predicted that exchanges will eventually run out of XRP supply, demand will explode, and the entire XRP supply ecosystem could even face the risk of freezing. However, he believes such a squeeze would not only affect price but also force the market to create new liquidity channels from derivative contracts.
Interestingly, the pundit also predicted that Ripple will step in by deploying portions of its XRP reserve as a liquidity pool and issuing XRP derivative contracts to exchanges. These exchanges would then sell the contracts at market price, allowing Ripple to earn yield from the structure.
What’s Going On With The Supply?
The current XRP circulating supply shows why the idea of exchanges completely running out of XRP should be treated carefully. At the time of writing, CoinMarketCap puts XRP’s circulating supply at about 61.82 billion XRP. However, the most important question is not how much XRP exists in circulation, but how much of that supply is actually liquid and available for immediate sale on exchanges.
Recent on-chain data has started to strengthen the argument that XRP’s liquid supply may be tightening. For instance, the amount of XRP held on Binance has reportedly fallen from about 3.05 billion tokens to below 2.75 billion in less than a year, putting the exchange’s XRP reserves near multi-year lows.
The drop in wallet balance of XRP has also coincided with a rise in XRP holders. Wallet addresses holding at least 10,000 XRP have reached a new all-time high of 332,000 wallets, showing that larger holders are still building positions despite XRP’s volatile price action.
Another important signal is coming from whale exchange activity. Data has shown that XRP’s biggest holders have slowed the rate at which they send tokens to crypto exchanges. The 30-day cumulative whale inflow indicator has fallen below 736 million XRP, its lowest level since November 2021.
