XRPL Foundation Board Director Explains Why XRP Price Is Down Despite ETF Launch

Due to the T+1 settlement system, when someone buys an XRP ETF share, the issuer does not receive the cash immediately. The money settles the next business day, and only then can the provider begin purchasing the actual XRP needed to back the fund.

This delay means early inflows don’t immediately translate into spot market demand. Essentially, Marzella stressed that an ETF does not pump the price on day one. The real impact comes later, sometimes quietly at first, then all at once.

Strong ETF Debut, Weak Price Reaction

After XRPC’s debut , the ETF recorded $26 million in trading volume in its first 30 minutes and $58.5 million by market close. Additionally, it logged $245 million in net inflows on the first day.

These numbers made XRPC the top ETF debut of the year, surpassing even the Bitwise Solana ETF. It also placed the XRP fund among the best-performing ETF launches out of more than 900 issued in 2025.

Yet despite this momentum, XRP fell from $2.52 to around $2.28. Since the ETF launch, XRP’s price has dropped to $2.16 before slightly recovering to $2.25 at press time. At this price, the coin is down 8.63% over the past week.

XRP chart CoinMarketCap

Bearish Market Dampened the Effect

Marzella also highlighted a second factor behind XRP’s decline: the entire crypto market is bearish.

Bitcoin lost the $100,000 support last Friday and has since fallen to $92,900. This bearish Bitcoin performance dragged the rest of the market down with it. In other words, as major altcoins corrected, XRP followed the trend.

Nick from The Web Alert pointed out that inflows worth tens or even hundreds of millions are still too small to overpower market selling pressure—especially considering XRP’s large supply. Any selling by major holders can offset upward pressure.

OTC Purchases May Hide the Real Buying Activity

Another reason the price impact hasn’t appeared yet is the way ETFs acquire their underlying assets. Even after settlement, issuers rarely buy directly from public exchanges. Large funds like Canary Capital often source assets from over-the-counter liquidity providers, meaning the purchases are not visible on spot price charts.

Marzella ended his explanation with a message of patience. ETF-driven price effects typically lag behind launch-day hype, as seen with Bitcoin’s own ETF debut in January 2024, which initially showed little price reaction before kicking off a major rally weeks later.