Analysis of the Current State of XRP Spot Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) in the United States
As of December 18, 2025, the United States has witnessed the emergence of four distinct XRP spot ETFs, collectively amassing assets amounting to $941.7 million. The individual contributions to this total are as follows: Grayscale’s GXRP with $148.1 million; Canary Capital’s XRPC at $373.6 million; Franklin Templeton’s XRPZ holding $189 million; and Bitwise’s XRP ETF with assets totaling $215.6 million.
This asset accumulation represents a notable increase from an initial figure of approximately $336 million at the launch of these ETFs in November, reflecting a remarkable surge in interest within a relatively short span of time—less than two months. Such rapid growth has generated considerable enthusiasm, propelling expectations for future performance.
XRP currently exists within two interrelated narratives:
1. **ETF Dynamics**: The initial layer, characterized by the flourishing ETF market, has successfully tapped into regulated demand within the United States.
2. **Payments Infrastructure**: Conversely, the second layer concerns XRP’s role in payments and infrastructure, which has yet to demonstrate its ability to sustain independent viability should the inflows into ETFs stabilize or decline.
The critical inquiry is not whether XRP has garnered attention through its ETF offerings; rather, it centers on whether there exists enduring demand for the asset that is firmly rooted in cross-border transactions, stablecoin infrastructures, and sustained liquidity that persists beyond the peak growth of ETF assets under management (AUM).
Significantly, the current ETF inflows have outstripped the $293 million represented by RLUSD on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) as of December 19, according to data compiled by DefiLlama. Nonetheless, this figure is dwarfed by Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) transactions, which processed approximately $15 billion in 2024—a stark contrast highlighting that while ETF performance is measurable, it remains relatively insubstantial compared to the comprehensive flow through RippleNet annually.
Should ETF inflows experience stagnation, discerning genuine adoption will necessitate an examination of underlying operational frameworks rather than merely focusing on market symbols.
Payments and Corridor Dynamics in 2025
RippleNet currently boasts a network comprising over 300 financial institutions across more than 55 countries; approximately 40% of these entities actively utilize XRP for ODL transactions as opposed to solely relying on messaging systems.
For the year 2024, ODL facilitated over $15 billion in cross-border payments—a commendable year-over-year increase of 32%, predominantly driven by activity within the Asia-Pacific region, which accounted for nearly 56% of total payment volume. This service now encompasses more than 70 corridor pairs, effectively addressing approximately 80% of significant global remittance routes. DAS Research estimates that ODL volumes could reach around $1.3 billion within just the second quarter of 2025, reinforcing Ripple’s ambition to position XRP as a fundamental component of global payments infrastructure.
*XRPL’s average daily active addresses surged by 142% to 134,600 in Q1 2025, while daily transactions increased by 13.3% to reach approximately 2 million.*
It is pertinent to note that RippleNet as a whole processes upwards of $15 billion in cross-border transaction volume monthly as of 2025. However, this aggregate includes corridors that do not yet utilize XRP for settlement purposes; many institutions continue to engage with RippleNet primarily for messaging and fiat-only settlement solutions. Consequently, key performance indicators include ODL volume, corridor coverage, and the proportion of partners utilizing XRP for routing transactions—rather than simply tallying RippleNet client numbers.
Global estimates suggest that cross-border payment volumes range between $130 trillion and $150 trillion annually according to SWIFT-linked data sources. Even if ODL volumes were to achieve a substantial annual figure of $30 billion, this would be deemed significant for XRP yet marginal within the broader landscape of global payments.
True adoption would necessitate compounded ODL volumes from their current level of $15 billion and encourage more than half of RippleNet clients to opt into utilizing XRP instead of fiat solutions while also expanding corridor offerings beyond existing Asia-Pacific remittance hotspots.
On-Chain Activity Beyond Speculative Trading
In Q3 2025, XRPL processed roughly 1.8 million transactions per day—reflecting an approximate quarter-on-quarter increase of 9% from the previous quarter’s figure of 1.6 million—with transaction finality typically occurring within a timeframe spanning three to five seconds.
The average daily active sender addresses reached approximately 25,300 during this period, with an impressive influx of around 447,200 new addresses created within the quarter—bringing total addresses on XRPL to roughly 6.9 million. Weekly payment counts have surged by approximately 430% compared to levels recorded in 2023. Notably, payments continue to assert dominance as XRPL’s primary use case.
Payment-related transactions constituted around 55.7% of total network activity during Q3 2025, with daily payment counts approximating 989,600.
Moreover, it is essential to consider XRPL’s burgeoning tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market cap which reached $347 million at quarter-end—a remarkable quarter-on-quarter growth of 193%, primarily fueled by U.S. Treasury instruments such as Ondo’s OUSG alongside commercial paper and real estate tokens.
*XRPL’s tokenized asset market value escalated from negligible levels in early 2025 to over $400 million by December—driven primarily by stablecoins and RWAs.*
Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin was launched in December 2024 on both XRPL and Ethereum platforms; currently boasting a total supply approximating $1.3 billion as of December 19. Specifically within XRPL contextually, RLUSD holds a market capitalization nearing $293 million—a notable increase of roughly 41% over the preceding thirty days.
Furthermore, Ripple is actively piloting RLUSD on Layer-2 solutions including Optimism and Base via Wormhole’s Non-Fungible Token (NFT) standard.
While RLUSD has emerged as a significant asset exceeding one billion dollars in market cap with an impactful albeit minority presence on XRPL—it remains diminutive when juxtaposed against USDT and USDC on Ethereum and Solana ecosystems.
Durable on-chain adoption necessitates three concurrent developments:
– Payment transactions must continue to dominate and expand in absolute terms.
– RWA capitalization along with RLUSD utilization on XRPL must exhibit upward trajectories rather than migrating predominantly towards Ethereum frameworks.
– Active addresses along with new wallet creations should grow consistently rather than exhibiting volatility correlated solely with price movements.
Liquidity Structure and Institutional Plumbing
Kaiko’s crypto asset ranking for Q3 positioned XRP alongside Ethereum at second place—achieving an AA score of 95 out of a possible hundred points. This rating reflects full marks for liquidity metrics including market depth, exchange availability, institutional adoption rates, and derivatives maturity—all comparable with Bitcoin’s leading position.
*Kaiko’s Q3 ranking placed XRP tied with Ethereum at second place with an AA score of 95—trailing only Bitcoin’s AAA rating.*
In early 2025, XRP exhibited an average daily trading volume approximating $1.73 billion—a year-over-year increase nearing 22%. This indicates that market makers regard XRP as a premier asset rather than relegating it to fringe altcoin status—regardless of prevailing ETF narratives.
Within decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and automated market maker (AMM) layers on XRPL:
– Average daily central limit order book (CLOB) volume for fungible issued currencies stood at around $7.9 million during Q3.
– Approximately one million CLOB trades were recorded alongside roughly 7,800 daily CLOB participants.
– Average daily AMM volume was about $1.7 million.
Although these figures pale in comparison to centralized exchange venues—they illustrate an environment characterized by fragmented liquidity featuring deep off-chain order books juxtaposed against more modest on-ledger liquidity levels even as XRPL enhances its composability through AMMs alongside forthcoming smart-contract extensions.
Evaluating Durability and Future Adoption Metrics
Assuming ETF AUM stabilizes between $1.6 billion and $1.7 billion over the next twelve to twenty-four months—the criteria necessary to classify XRP demand as “durable” rather than predominantly ETF-driven can be delineated as follows:
1. **Sustained Growth in ODL Volumes**: The trajectory for ODL volumes alongside corridor coverage must continue ascending beyond the current level of $15 billion registered in previous reporting periods.
2. **Increasing Market Penetration**: More than half of RippleNet clients need to transition towards utilizing XRP instead of maintaining reliance solely on fiat-based solutions while expanding corridor offerings should reflect disclosed volumes rather than preliminary pilot programs.
3. **On-Chain Metrics Must Endure**: The existing base encompassing roughly 1.8 million daily transactions alongside six point nine million addresses must persistently rise without plateauing—indicating robust ongoing engagement rather than transient spikes coinciding with price fluctuations or speculative trading patterns.
4. **Liquidity Quality Maintenance**: Kaiko’s AA rating reflects strong liquidity characteristics; however—should stagnation occur—it will be critical to observe whether order-book depth remains resilient alongside stable bid-ask spreads along with open interest levels when ETF net flows normalize.
If these conditions are met while ETF AUM remains static—indicative evidence would suggest that genuine adoption is occurring: where ETF products serve merely as additional access channels into an asset whose demand is fundamentally anchored within cross-border flows alongside established stablecoin frameworks alongside tokenized treasury instruments underpinned by substantial liquidity structures.
Conversely—should ODL volumes stagnate while payment metrics regress or address activity declines along with RWA growth shifting off-ledger—the candid conclusion would posit that much of the anticipated narrative surrounding XRP during the years spanning from twenty twenty-five through twenty-six primarily revolved around speculative ETF interest rather than substantive structural demand anchored within operational plumbing mechanisms underpinning its ecosystem.
