Wall Street Sends Mixed Signals on XRP as Goldman Exits and Small Banks Edge In

Goldman Sachs fully unwound $154M in XRP ETF holdings, while UBS, Bank of America, and RBC disclosed small first-time stakes. XRP price at $1.38, down 6.5% weekly, as net inflows of $67.6M buck wider crypto outflow trend.

Goldman Sachs has fully unwound its XRP-linked ETF positions worth $154 million, but the move tells only part of the story. While the Wall Street heavyweight stepped away, a handful of other major banks quietly disclosed small stakes in regulated XRP products for the first time. The conflicting signals arrive as XRP investment products attracted $67.6 million in net inflows during the week ending May 18 — a rare bright spot in a crypto market that bled $1.07 billion overall.

XRP itself remains under price pressure. The token changed hands at $1.38, down 6.54% over the past seven days and 26.46% year-to-date. On a twelve-month basis the decline deepens to 42.51%. Technically, the picture is equally muted: XRP trades just below its 50-day moving average of $1.39 and well beneath the 200-day average of $1.71 — a sign that short-term support is nearer than any medium-term trend reversal.

Goldman’s Selective Retreat

Goldman Sachs exited its entire XRP ETF holdings in the first quarter of 2026, according to regulatory filings. The positions spanned products from Bitwise, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton and 21Shares. Yet the bank did not abandon crypto altogether. It maintained a roughly $700 million Bitcoin ETF exposure and trimmed Ethereum ETF holdings by 70% to about $114 million. Capital was redirected toward infrastructure plays such as Circle, Coinbase and Galaxy Digital.

The pattern suggests a deliberate risk reduction on altcoin ETFs rather than a broad crypto retreat. XRP’s technical setup offers little to tempt institutions back. On May 18, the token fell from a daily high of $1.426 to a low of $1.369, with late-session volume spikes pointing to active selling by large addresses. Whale concentration sits at 68.5%, the highest level since 2018 — a double-edged signal that underscores the heavy influence of big holders.

Small Stakes, Big Symbolism

While Goldman exited, other banks filed in. UBS disclosed roughly 197,369 shares of the Volatility Shares XRP ETF valued at about $1.49 million. Bank of America took a smaller position in the same product worth around $224,000. The Royal Bank of Canada reported a symbolic 2,000 shares of the Bitwise XRP ETF, equivalent to roughly $30,000 — negligible in portfolio terms but notable as a first official disclosure from a major Canadian bank.

Millennium Management also revealed XRP-related exposure, though the hedge fund remains far more heavily weighted toward Bitcoin ETFs. The overall message points to caution: institutional investors are testing the waters rather than diving in.

That caution is reflected in the broader ETF ownership structure. Retail investors account for 84% of XRP ETF assets, while 13F filers — institutions required to report holdings — represent just 15.9%. By contrast, Solana ETFs have an institutional share of 48.8%. XRP has entered the regulated ETF arena but has not yet secured deep institutional anchoring.

Product Flows Defy the Tide

Despite the lackluster price action and Goldman’s exit, XRP-linked investment products are pulling in fresh money. Net inflows of $67.6 million in the week to May 18 stood in sharp contrast to Bitcoin’s $982 million in outflows and Ethereum’s $249 million in withdrawals. Analysts attribute the broader market bleed to geopolitical tensions and redemptions from US spot ETFs.

The Franklin XRP ETF alone reported net inflows of more than $750,000 on May 18. Cumulative net inflows into US spot XRP ETFs have reached $1.39 billion since their launch in November.

Network data reinforces the divergence between price and capital flows. Active addresses rose to 48,453 and new wallet creations hit a seven-week high of 3,317. More than three billion XRP have left exchanges since February, suggesting holders are moving tokens into custody rather than preparing to sell.

A Regulatory Tailwind Builds

One potential catalyst lurks in Washington. The Senate Banking Committee advanced the CLARITY Act in May by a vote of 15 to 9. If enacted, the bill would codify XRP as a commodity under federal law — a legal status that could unlock further institutional participation.

On the infrastructure front, JPMorgan is testing the XRP Ledger for cross-border payments and Treasury bill settlement, keeping the institutional narrative alive even as price action falters.

Technical Zones in Focus

On the downside, the next critical support zone sits between $1.27 and $1.34. A break below recent lows would bring a test near $1.35 into play. On the upside, resistance at $1.385 and $1.400 must be reclaimed for short-term pressure to ease. Only a move above $1.40 would meaningfully shift the technical outlook.

The next major test arrives in August, when second-quarter 13F filings are due. Those disclosures will reveal whether Goldman’s exit was a one-off repositioning or the start of a broader institutional pullback from altcoin ETFs. For now, XRP occupies a curious middle ground: losing ground in price and on one Wall Street heavyweight’s books, yet quietly gaining footholds elsewhere.