XRP News Today: XRP ETF Launches Impressively Despite Price Drop Due to Large Holder Sell-Offs and Unstable Market Conditions

The

(ticker: XRP) began trading on the New York Stock Exchange with impressive momentum, reaching close to $22 million in volume on its opening day, . This ETF, which stores spot with Coinbase as custodian, represents a notable step for American investors looking to access the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Despite this strong start, XRP's value slipped by about 7% to $1.92, affected by overall market turbulence and significant whale sell-offs, .

XRP currently boasts a market cap of $127 billion, and its XRP Ledger has processed more than 4 billion transactions since launch. With an average settlement time of 3–5 seconds and a primary focus on cross-border payments—a sector expected to hit $250 trillion by 2027—

in the rapidly changing digital finance landscape. Matt Hougan, Bitwise's Chief Investment Officer, called XRP "a fascinating asset" with a 13-year history of efficient, high-volume transactions and a "dynamic and engaged community" .

This ETF is physically backed, with XRP tokens secured in a custodial trust, and its net asset value is tracked against the CME CF XRP-Dollar Reference Rate-New York Variant. Bitwise is temporarily waiving its 0.34% management fee for the first month on the initial $500 million in assets to

. The fund's introduction comes after several months of regulatory advancements, in July 2025, which clarified the regulatory framework for payment-oriented digital assets.

Nevertheless, the ETF's launch occurred alongside a steep downturn in the wider crypto sector. Bitcoin's drop below $86,000 led to over $220 million in long positions being liquidated, which also pushed XRP lower.

that whale wallets offloaded 200 million XRP tokens within two days of the ETF's launch, intensifying the downward price pressure. to 58.5%, the lowest since November 2024, pointing to underlying market weakness.

The ETF's ticker, "XRP," has sparked discussion in the crypto space. Some critics believe that sharing the ticker with the underlying asset could lead to confusion among traders and complicate data analysis on various platforms. Developer Vincent Van Code, on the other hand, suggested this could eventually distinguish retail ETF trading from native XRP transactions, with the ETF serving retail investors and institutional trades remaining on-chain

.

Bitwise's XRP ETF is part of a larger trend of U.S. spot XRP ETFs expected to roll out by late 2025. Firms like Franklin Templeton, Grayscale, and 21Shares are preparing to launch their own offerings soon, with industry forecasts anticipating $5–8 billion in total inflows by the end of the year

. Canary Capital's XRPC ETF, which started trading on November 13, this year, posting $58 million in volume on its first day.

The performance of the Bitwise XRP ETF highlights the rising institutional appetite for XRP, even as short-term price action remains subject to macroeconomic shifts and market sentiment. Experts warn that significant institutional adoption may not materialize until 2026, as financial advisors and pension funds gradually add XRP exposure to their portfolios. For now, the ETF's ongoing success will hinge on maintaining regulatory trust, sufficient liquidity, and managing the inherent volatility of the crypto asset it tracks.