US spot XRP ETFs have now recorded ten consecutive weeks of net inflows, with cumulative creations reaching a record $1.72 billion even as the token itself spent most of 2026 treading water. The latest two sessions added $38.06 million, and the steady bid is doing real work: XRP rebounded to $1.53 on Friday, up 22.4 percent from its September 16 low near $1.25, according to data compiled by TradingNews.
The token outperformed both bitcoin and ether on the day, gaining 1.46 percent while BTC slipped 0.83 percent and ETH fell 0.84 percent. That divergence is the detail fund managers keep pointing at. When an altcoin rises while the largest assets fall, the buying is coming from somewhere other than general risk appetite, and in this case the most visible source is the ETF channel. Seven US spot XRP funds now collectively hold nearly 1 billion XRP, a position built almost entirely during a year when the price went nowhere.
How the streak survived a brutal month
The past three weeks tested the thesis hard. On September 15 the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act, the market-structure bill that would have classified XRP and similar assets as digital commodities under CFTC oversight. The cloture vote needed 60 votes and did not get them. XRP dropped more than 8 percent within hours, and Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong called the outcome a disappointment, arguing the SEC and CFTC already have the tools to write clear rules through their own authority.
The next day the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 3.75 to 4.00 percent, its first hike since 2023, and XRP bottomed near $1.25. Even that week, which combined a legislative failure with a rate hike, still produced $9.56 million of net ETF inflows. The funds absorbed the selling rather than joining it, which is the behavior that separates a persistent allocation from momentum chasing.
The rebound that followed was fast. XRP gained 15.8 percent in the week through September 23, pushed above $1.60 on two consecutive days, and closed below that level both times. On-chain activity backed the story: the XRP Ledger recorded 11,432 new accounts in a single reading on September 24, a 323 percent surge above its 30-day average of roughly 2,700. Active addresses had already grown 35 percent during August, and payment volume spiked above 1.1 billion XRP in 24 hours earlier in the month, more than double the 30-day average.
The $1.60 wall is the real constraint
Resistance is not regulatory this time, it is mechanical. August buyers who watched the token spike to $1.70 and then collapse to $1.25 are sitting at or near breakeven, and every approach to $1.60 hands them an exit. XRP failed to close above that level twice this week. Until inflows return to their August pace, the range argument runs between $1.44 and $1.60, with the ceiling defined by holders who want out rather than by fundamentals.
The wider backdrop is not helping either. The 10-year Treasury yield hit 5.225 percent on Thursday, its highest since July 2007, and the 30-year touched 5.502 percent, the highest since 2004. For a token that pays no yield, a 5.2 percent risk-free alternative raises the bar for holding. Futures markets price a 66 to 71 percent probability of another Fed hike in October, and the University of Michigan’s final September survey put year-ahead inflation expectations at 4.6 percent, the highest since June.
Ripple built a company, the token lagged
The disconnect between the asset and the company behind it has defined 2026. Ripple saw the SEC case against it end, secured conditional approval for a national trust bank, raised capital at a $50 billion valuation, and spent roughly $4 billion on acquisitions including prime broker Hidden Road, treasury manager GTreasury, payments firm Rail and custody provider Standard Custody. Its RLUSD stablecoin crossed $1.6 billion in supply. The token itself spent the first seven months of the year between $0.90 and $1.10.
The August breakout briefly changed the pattern. XRP surged 56 percent in a single week as short liquidations, renewed ETF inflows and bitcoin’s move above $77,000 combined, taking the token to $1.70 before it faded back toward $1.50 and slid to $1.25 in mid-September. At Friday’s price of $1.53, the token sits 39 percent above the top of the summer range and 70 percent above its bottom, but the average buyer over the past year is still down 12 percent while the average bitcoin buyer is in profit.
Corporate treasuries keep adding a bid
On the treasury side, Evernorth, the Ripple-linked XRP treasury firm, cleared SEC approval for its SPAC merger with Armada Acquisition Corp. II and is set for a shareholder vote on September 30, with a Nasdaq listing under the ticker XRPN planned for the fourth quarter. It already holds 473.27 million XRP from two purchase windows in late 2025 at an average entry of $2.54, a position roughly 40 percent underwater at current prices, and it secured a $30 million convertible-note commitment from South Korea’s NH Investment & Securities specifically earmarked for spot XRP purchases.
Clearpool, the institutional credit protocol, separately announced it is targeting the XRP Ledger credit market with a token overhaul aimed at institutional borrowers, adding a lending-use case that did not exist for the chain a year ago. None of this guarantees price appreciation, but it does mean the number of structured, repeatable buyers of XRP keeps growing while the token consolidates.
Not everything points up. On-chain surges deserve caution: new account creation can reflect exchange activity, airdrop campaigns or automated account creation rather than organic adoption, and a single day’s reading carries limited weight. Social sentiment turned bullish in the past week, which in crypto markets often coincides with local tops because the buyers driving the optimism have already bought.
What would change the picture? Two things. First, ETF inflows returning to their August pace, which would signal the institutional bid is expanding rather than merely persisting. Second, a sustained close above $1.60, which would clear the breakeven supply and force short sellers to chase. Absent either, the streak keeps XRP supported without breaking it out, a floor built one weekly print at a time.