XRP started May with renewed bullish momentum as traders digested a mix of retail adoption momentum and growing institutional use cases. The token traded around $1.37, up about 0.2% in the last 24 hours, but remains roughly 10% below its April peak near $1.51. Data signals point to stronger interest in both on-chain activity and derivative positioning, even as the market contends with a still-substantial resistance zone around the $1.50 area.
Social sentiment for XRP has surged to the second-highest level in two years, according to Santiment, a move the research firm partly attributes to Rakuten’s integration of XRP into its ecosystem. The rollout enables Rakuten Wallet users to convert loyalty points into XRP and spend the asset at more than 5 million merchant locations via QR-based payments. Rakuten Pay, with roughly 44 million accounts, positions XRP in front of one of Japan’s largest consumer networks, and more than 3 trillion loyalty points—valued at roughly $23 billion—can now be converted into XRP within the app. RippleX described the rollout as one of the largest retail-facing deployments of XRP to date.
Key takeaways
- Price move: XRP sits near $1.37, up 0.2% in the past 24 hours, still about 10% below April’s high of $1.51.
- Catalyst: Retail adoption via Rakuten’s loyalty-point conversion into XRP and the broader push by Ripple’s ecosystem to expand real-world usage.
- Institutional activity: A notable on-chain and derivatives backdrop includes a $59 million RLUSD settlement on the XRP Ledger, and rising whale accumulation alongside a positive funding-rate environment on Binance.
What drove the move
Two trends are converging for XRP. On the consumer side, Rakuten’s integration broadens XRP’s reach by converting loyalty points into the token and allowing its use across millions of merchants. The scale of Rakuten’s network—together with 3 trillion loyalty points now eligible for conversion—creates a direct on-ramp for XRP into everyday payments, a development that historically has been challenging for digital assets to monetize at scale.
On the institutional front, on-chain and derivatives signals point to rising demand for exposure. CryptoQuant data suggest that XRP’s 30-day average funding rate on Binance rose to 0.0002, the highest since early February, after lingering in negative territory for months. Positive funding rates imply more traders are financing long positions, signaling a tilt toward upside exposure in the futures market.
Whale activity also underscores a floor underneath demand. Wallets holding between 10 million and 100 million XRP accumulated 420 million tokens over 11 days, while addresses with at least 1 billion XRP added another 730 million. Together, total whale purchases reached about 1.15 billion XRP in the same window. While price did not break out to new highs, the accumulation pattern points to a steady bid from large holders, which can help sustain upside risk into upcoming catalysts.
Additionally, XRP’s on-chain activity is complemented by notable settlement activity. On April 29, a $59 million RLUSD settlement was processed on the XRP Ledger at a transaction fee of $0.000188. On-chain researcher Ripple Bull Winkle described the move as live production use of Ripple’s payment infrastructure for sizable cross-border settlements. RLUSD is designed for enterprise use cases such as treasury operations and settlement flows, and is integrated into Ripple Payments alongside other institutional clients like BKK Forex and iSend. In traditional rails, cross-border settlements can carry fees of 0.5% to 1% of notional and take days to settle; the RLUSD settlement illustrates a near-instant alternative at a fraction of a penny in cost.
Regulatory developments add another dimension. On April 27, NYSE Arca filed a proposal with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to include XRP among eligible assets for commodity-based trust shares under Rule 8.201-E, alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. The proposal would require at least 85% of a trust’s holdings to meet qualifying criteria, effectively situating XRP within a framework already used for exchange-traded products. Separately, demand for XRP ETFs has picked up, with SoSoValue data showing nearly $90 million in inflows over the past three weeks and no negative days since April 10.
Market reaction
Despite the improving sentiment and the suite of supportive developments, XRP has yet to clear the immediate resistance near its April high. Market capitalization hovered around $84.4 billion with roughly 62 billion XRP in circulation. While the positive trends in sentiment, on-chain activity, and institutional interest could translate into an extended upside, traders and investors are balancing the prospect of a delayed price response against a broader macro backdrop, where rate expectations, inflation data, and regulatory clarity continue to shape risk appetite for crypto assets.
What analysts are saying
Analysts note that a surge in social sentiment or notable adoption news does not always produce an instant price breakout for XRP. The latest wave of interest aligns with a broader appetite for digital asset exposure among both retail and institutional participants, but the path to a meaningful rally often requires confirmation from sustained demand beyond the initial excitement. Investors are also watching how RLUSD adoption and the potential ETF flows translate into actual trading activity and liquidity, as well as how the regulatory filings for commodity-based trust shares could influence broader access to XRP in the traditional investment space.
Bigger picture
The confluence of retail-access enhancements, on-chain real-world use cases, and rising institutional interest paints a more constructive backdrop for XRP in the near term. If Rakuten’s roll-out continues to drive loyalty-point conversions into XRP and if RLUSD settlements scale across more institutions, XRP could see incremental demand that strengthens its market footing even as the sector fights for a clear macro-driven catalyst. Regulatory developments, particularly the potential inclusion of XRP within commodity-based trust shares, could further influence investor access and product structuring in the digital-asset space.
What to watch next: updates on Rakuten’s integration milestones, further RLUSD deployments, regulatory decisions from the SEC on asset eligibility, and continued ETF inflow trends. Any sustained push in funding rates on major derivatives venues or further whale accumulation would also be notable signals for the market’s direction in the weeks ahead.
