Ripple’s EU License and Network Upgrade Move Forward as XRP ETF Outflows Break Long Inflow Streak

Ripple secures CASP license in Luxembourg for EU expansion under MiCA, but XRP price remains weak amid ETF outflows and fear, while Ledger upgrade approaches.

Ripple’s European ambitions took a significant leap forward after Luxembourg’s financial regulator granted the company a Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) license. The authorization allows Ripple to operate across the European Economic Area under the bloc’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, a standard that fewer than 210 firms out of more than 1,000 had met by the July deadline. The license complements an existing e-money license Ripple already holds in the Grand Duchy for its global payments network. Yet for all the regulatory progress, XRP’s price continues to trade well below its long-term trend, hovering near $1.10 and nursing a year-to-date loss of more than 40%.

Institutional adoption is also gaining traction beyond the regulatory sphere. Clearstream, a subsidiary of Deutsche Börse, has added XRP to its regulated crypto custody offering, lowering the barrier to entry for European institutional investors. Meanwhile, Ripple has pushed into brand visibility with its first college sports sponsorship in the United States: the University of Kansas will carry the XRP logo on its jerseys this coming season.

The market, however, is not rewarding these developments. On Binance, open interest in XRP futures has dropped to a three-month low, signaling waning speculative appetite. The broader crypto sentiment gauge, the Fear & Greed Index, is flashing extreme fear, exacerbated by geopolitical tensions that are dragging down risk assets across the board.

That cautious mood was underscored on July 8, when XRP spot ETFs recorded net outflows of $7.29 million — the largest single-day withdrawal since March and a sharp break from an eight-week inflow streak. The entire outflow came from the Bitwise product, which had seen no trading activity for two days prior. The reversal ends a run that saw nearly $23 million flow into XRP ETFs in the final week of June alone. Despite the setback, cumulative inflows across all approved XRP funds remain at roughly $1.4 billion, with Bitwise accounting for nearly $500 million of that total.

On the technology front, the XRP Ledger is moving closer to a critical upgrade. Version 3.2.0 of the node software has now been adopted by 89% of validators, well above the 80% threshold needed for activation. However, the protocol requires a formal on-chain vote on a related amendment — dubbed “fixCleanup3_2_0” — which must also secure majority support from trusted validators. Ripple has already cast its vote in favor. Validators that fail to upgrade risk being excluded from the ledger. Once the amendment garners enough votes, a two-week support window will open before activation is finalized.

User growth on the network continues unabated. The total number of XRP addresses climbed to a record 8.4 million in the first half of the year, adding nearly half a million new wallets. Stablecoin issuance and tokenization are cited as the primary drivers. Yet the price action remains disconnected from this fundamental expansion. XRP now trades just above its 2025 low of $1.01, with chart technicians eyeing the $1.05 support level as a critical line in the sand. A break below could invite additional selling pressure, while the $1.14 resistance caps any upside relief. Until the macroeconomic environment improves, the gap between Ripple’s operational wins and XRP’s market performance looks set to persist.