Institutions Drive XRP Flows as Binance Futures Remain Bearish

US spot XRP exchange-traded funds recorded $25.8 million in net inflows on May 11, the largest daily intake for the four U.S. funds since early January. The funds have drawn more than $60 million in positive flows so far this month and have taken in over $1.35 billion since their launch last year. ETFs offer regulated exposure to XRP through brokerage and advisory platforms without direct custody on crypto exchanges.

On May 11 Ripple announced a $200 million asset-backed debt facility provided by funds managed by Neuberger Specialty Finance to support Ripple Prime, the company’s institutional prime brokerage business. The facility is backed by Ripple Prime’s institutional loan portfolio and is structured for flexible drawdowns to expand margin capacity and liquidity for institutional clients. Noel Kimmel, president of Ripple Prime, described the financing as enabling the platform “to grow alongside our clients by delivering increased margin capacity, greater responsiveness, and improved capital efficiency.” Ripple acquired Hidden Road last year and rebranded it as Ripple Prime; the firm reported that brokerage revenue has tripled amid rising client activity.

Developers have added features to the XRP Ledger aimed at regulated participants, including Multi-Purpose Tokens that allow issuers to embed compliance controls, Permissioned Domains and a Permissioned DEX to create more controlled trading environments, and a Token Escrow feature that extends escrow beyond XRP to issued currencies. The ledger’s roadmap lists native lending markets and Smart Escrows focused on privacy and conditional settlement. Ripple piloted a cross-border redemption of a tokenized U.S. Treasury fund on the ledger with JPMorgan, Mastercard and Ondo Finance.

An XRP-focused treasury firm reported a 65% increase in transaction activity over the past 12 months, reaching about 71 million transactions, and cited participation by custodians, stablecoins, tokenization projects and banks.

Derivatives markets showed different signals. Data from centralized exchanges put the Binance perpetual cumulative volume delta near negative $434 million, indicating net selling pressure even as the token traded higher. Open interest on Binance rose from roughly 207 million XRP on April 30 to nearly 232 million XRP by mid-May. On May 11 alone, open interest increased by about $18 million on Binance, $10.4 million on OKX and $8.5 million on Bybit, a combined rise of roughly $36.9 million.

Funding rates on Binance have favored short positions for nearly three months, meaning short traders have been paying long traders to maintain bearish exposure. Estimated spot cumulative volume delta across centralized exchanges stood near $575 million despite higher prices.

Market participants and analysts described the data as a split between regulated, institution-driven demand on spot channels and continued bearish positioning in derivatives markets. If ETF flows, institutional financing and ledger activity continue at current levels, those channels will broaden access to XRP through traditional investment platforms and institutional prime services. At the same time, elevated open interest and negative funding in futures markets could increase price volatility if positions unwind.