- 10x Research finds retail demand powering XRP growth while institutions prefer SOL and ETH.
- Santiment reports 5.66 million XRPL wallets holding under 100 XRP, indicating rising retail participation.
- Solana saw about $20 million in ETF net inflows in the referenced week.
- Ethereum experienced roughly $60 million in institutional outflows over the same period.
- XRP ETFs recorded modest positive flows of about $0.6 million
The crypto market is operating on two separate tracks. Retail traders are powering XRP’s recent price gains while institutional capital stays concentrated in Solana and Ethereum, a divergence that research firm 10x Research says shows little sign of narrowing.
Retail Drives XRP’s On-Chain Momentum
According to the 10x Research report, XRP’s recent price appreciation is being driven primarily by retail buying pressure and expanding use cases on the XRP Ledger. Blockchain analytics platform Santiment flagged on February 6 that 5.66 million XRP wallets, roughly 3.2% of the total, hold fewer than 100 XRP each. 10x Research cited this as evidence of broad-based, grassroots on-chain activity rather than concentrated accumulation.
The data suggests that everyday users are increasingly active on the XRP Ledger, but the network has yet to attract meaningful institutional participation. Wallet growth and transactional volume may reflect organic adoption, yet without institutional backing, the rally’s structural durability remains uncertain.
Institutions Favor Solana and Ethereum
On the institutional side, the picture is sharply different. 10x Research estimated approximately $20 million in net ETF inflows into Solana during the reporting period. Ethereum, despite recording net ETF outflows of around $60 million, continues to dominate professional crypto allocations in terms of overall positioning and liquidity depth.
XRP’s institutional numbers are far thinner. Net ETF inflows into the token reached just $0.6 million, a figure 10x Research described as reflecting “some degree of institutional apprehension.” The gap between XRP’s retail traction and its institutional uptake is not incidental.
It mirrors the relative absence of institutional-grade infrastructure around XRP, such as custody solutions, regulated products, and deep liquidity pools that have made Ethereum and Solana default choices for professional allocators.
The divergence raises a structural question the market will need to answer: can retail momentum alone sustain XRP’s price trajectory over a meaningful period, or does the lack of institutional depth impose a natural ceiling on further gains?
The metrics to watch are weekly ETF flow data and XRP Ledger activity indicators. Any credible signal of enterprise engagement, through payment infrastructure, tokenization pilots, or regulated custody integrations, would mark a genuine inflection point. Until that happens, XRP’s rally belongs firmly to retail.
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