Despite $118 Million ETF Inflow and New Perpetuals, XRP Sinks to 52-Week Low After Token Unlock

XRP hits year-low at $1.21 after Ripple unlocks 1B tokens, while spot ETFs see record $118M inflows. Derivatives and network activity grow.

The month of May delivered a record haul for US spot XRP ETFs, yet the token’s price has barely budged — and then it slid further. On June 1, Ripple unlocked another 1 billion XRP from its escrow system, pushing the cryptocurrency to $1.21, its lowest point in a year and roughly 66% below the July 2025 peak of $3.56. The divergence between institutional demand and spot-market reality has rarely been starker.

The unlock itself was executed in three tranches: 500 million, 400 million and 100 million XRP, worth roughly $1.33 billion at the time. But the headline figure overstates the actual supply pressure. Ripple originally locked 55 billion XRP in on-ledger escrows to create predictable release schedules. Any tokens not sold or used during the month are sent back into new escrow contracts. So far in 2026, Ripple has re-escrowed 3.5 billion XRP. What matters for traders is not the gross unlock but how much Ripple lets circulate freely.

On the demand side, the ETF data look encouraging. US spot XRP ETFs recorded net inflows of $118.29 million in May — the strongest month this year. Such regulated vehicles did not exist in earlier unlock cycles, making the current environment structurally different. Yet XRP lost nearly 9% in the past seven days and is down about 35% year-to-date. The token is trading well below its 50-day moving average of $1.39. Broader altcoin weakness appears to be overwhelming the institutional allocation.

The derivatives market, meanwhile, is buzzing. On June 2, fintech platform Kalshi filed a self-certification with the CFTC for perpetual XRP futures, along with 11 other altcoins including Ethereum, Solana and Dogecoin. Kalshi — valued at $22 billion after a recent funding round north of $1 billion — already launched a regulated Bitcoin perpetual on May 29. XRP follows as the next step in expanding its suite of US-regulated derivatives.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange also continues to gain traction. It introduced 24/7 crypto futures trading on May 29, and over the first weekend 7,200 contracts traded, representing a notional value of roughly $50 million. XRP futures at the CME reached $1 billion in open interest within three months of their May 2025 launch — the fastest any product had achieved that milestone at the exchange. Total open interest across all platforms now stands at around $3 billion. Ripple Prime, formerly Hidden Road, acts as the registered futures commission merchant and clearing partner.

Network fundamentals also offer a bright spot. The XRP Ledger saw average daily transactions rise 35.3% in the first quarter of 2026 to 2.48 million, driven by payments, tokenization and decentralised liquidity services. Behind the scenes, the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s BLOOM project includes Ripple with the XRP Ledger and the RLUSD stablecoin to test programmable solutions for cross-border trade settlement. And SBI Remit in Japan reported cumulative remittance volume of 2.5 trillion yen ($15.6 billion) over RippleNet.

The picture that emerges is two-sided: institutional infrastructure for XRP is thickening at an impressive clip — from ETFs to regulated perpetuals to a growing CME presence. Yet the spot price continues to languish near its lows, unable to shake the weight of the monthly unlocks and a broader risk-off mood in crypto. Whether the ETF inflows can sustain their May pace and how much of the June escrow tranche remains in free float will determine if the market can finally close that gap.