XRP: Two Faces of Institutional Demand as Goldman Exits and Banks Creep In

Wall Street’s relationship with XRP is becoming a study in contradictions. While Goldman Sachs jettisoned its entire XRP ETF position worth $154 million in the first quarter, a handful of major banks quietly disclosed small stakes for the first time. The token itself remains stuck below $1.40, caught between record retail inflows and a stubborn sell wall that has defied institutional buying for months.

Goldmans Ausstieg war kein kryptofeindlicher Schritt

Goldman Sachs reduced its crypto ETF exposure selectively. The bank held roughly $700 million in Bitcoin products and $114 million in Ethereum ETFs after cutting the latter by 70%. The XRP holdings, spread across funds from Bitwise, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton and 21Shares, were simply zeroed out. Bloomberg analysts had already classified the position as trading desk activity rather than strategic conviction.

The capital shifted into infrastructure stocks — Circle, Coinbase and Galaxy Digital — underscoring a pivot toward the industry’s plumbing rather than its more speculative tokens. Ethereum took a hit, Bitcoin held firm, XRP got cut entirely. That pattern is clearer than any single headline.

Yet the sell-off was not universal. UBS disclosed roughly 197,369 shares in the Volatility Shares XRP ETF valued at about $1.49 million. Royal Bank of Canada reported a tiny 2,000-share position in the Bitwise XRP ETF worth around $30,000. Bank of America edged in with a $224,000 stake in the same Volatility Shares fund. Millennium Management also revealed XRP exposure, though it remains predominantly a Bitcoin ETF investor.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying XRP?

For RBC, the dollar amount is negligible against a balance sheet of hundreds of billions. The significance lies in the disclosure itself: a major Canadian bank now officially appears as a holder of a US-listed XRP ETF.

Retail still carries the load

The institutional footprint in XRP ETFs remains shallow. According to 13F filings, only 15.9% of assets come from professional money managers, compared to 84% from retail investors. For Solana ETFs, the institutional share reaches 48.8%. XRP may be listed and regulated, but it has not yet crossed the threshold into mainstream portfolio allocation.

That gap could narrow if the CLARITY Act clears the Senate. The bill advanced through the Banking Committee in May by a 15-9 vote and would enshrine XRP as a commodity under federal law. Standard Chartered projects passage could unlock between $4 billion and $8 billion in first-year ETF inflows — three to six times the cumulative $1.37 billion already collected since November.

Cumulative spot XRP ETF net inflows have now reached $1.39 billion since launch, with May already exceeding April’s total. Not a single day of outflows has been recorded this month. Yet the price languishes at $1.37, barely above its 50-day moving average of $1.39 and well below the 200-day level of $1.71.

A $1.16 billion wall holds the line

The disconnect between flow data and price action stems from a massive sell wall. A cluster of 1.16 billion XRP tokens — worth approximately $1.6 billion at current prices — sits directly above the market. Since February, XRP has traded in a tight band between $1.28 and $1.45. Every dollar of ETF buying has been absorbed by holders taking profits at those levels.

XRP at a turning point? This analysis reveals what investors need to know now.

On a 12-month basis, XRP is down 42.51%. Year-to-date, the decline stands at 25.93%. The technical picture is mixed: the short-term floor appears closer than the medium-term trend reversal, but recapturing the 200-day average will require a catalyst beyond incremental ETF flows.

Upcoming triggers: Ledger upgrade and Senate vote

The XRP Ledger is scheduled to activate the fixCleanup3_1_3 amendment on May 27, bringing improvements to NFTs, vaults and the lending protocol. The more consequential event, however, remains the CLARITY Act. A Senate vote could come as early as June or July. If passed, the regulatory certainty would likely attract pension funds and sovereign wealth funds — investors that operate in billions, not millions.

The next batch of 13F filings in August will provide the real test. By then, the market will see whether Goldman simply rotated or whether a broader retreat from altcoin ETFs is underway. For now, XRP sits at the intersection of record retail demand, cautious institutional toe-dipping, and a price level that refuses to break free.

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