SKN | Grayscale’s XRP Trust Holdings Plunge as Institutional Exposure Contracts in First Half

Grayscale’s XRP Trust sharply reduced its XRP holdings during the first half of 2026, with the trust’s position falling from 122.23 million tokens at the end of 2025 to 55.04 million by June 30. The contraction comes as XRP trades near the psychologically important $1 level, raising questions about institutional demand even though broader XRP exchange-traded products have continued to attract capital.

Trust Holdings Fall Nearly 55% in Six Months

According to the SEC filing cited in the report, Grayscale’s XRP Trust sold 103.41 million XRP worth $180.78 million during the first six months of 2026. Its holdings declined by 67.19 million tokens after accounting for new XRP added during the period, representing a roughly 55% reduction from the 122.23 million XRP held at the end of 2025.

The value of the trust’s XRP position fell from $223.36 million to $57.41 million over the same period. Grayscale reported a $34.16 million realized loss on XRP sold to meet share redemptions, while the remaining position generated an additional $17.47 million unrealized loss. The figures indicate that the contraction was driven not only by XRP’s price performance but also by a substantial reduction in the number of shares outstanding.

Redemptions Outpaced New XRP Creation

The trust created approximately 36.27 million XRP worth $66.58 million during the six-month period, but those additions were insufficient to offset redemptions. Outstanding shares fell from 6.30 million at the end of 2025 to just 2.84 million by June 30, a decline of roughly 55%.

Grayscale bought back 5.33 million shares while selling 1.87 million shares during the period. Authorized participants are responsible for creating and redeeming shares, meaning changes in the trust’s XRP balance can reflect investor redemptions rather than discretionary selling by the fund manager. The filing also notes that periodic XRP withdrawals were used to meet the sponsor’s fees, further affecting XRP held per share.

That distinction is important for interpreting the data. The reduction in Grayscale’s holdings is a clear sign of contraction in this particular institutional vehicle, but it does not by itself establish that institutional investors broadly are abandoning XRP.

XRP Nears $1 as Broader ETF Flows Provide a Counterpoint

XRP was trading around $1.02 in the market data supplied with the report, down 0.2% overnight, while daily trading volume reached approximately $732 million, compared with $670 million the previous day. The token is therefore approaching the $1 threshold at the same time that one of its major institutional investment vehicles has experienced substantial redemptions.

However, the broader ETF picture is less negative. CoinGlass data cited in the report shows cumulative net inflows into XRP ETFs of approximately $1.42 billion since their launch in November 2024. That figure places Grayscale’s $180.78 million in first-half XRP sales in a wider context: significant redemptions at one fund do not necessarily represent a market-wide withdrawal of institutional capital.

For investors, the divergence is more informative than either number alone. Institutional demand for XRP appears increasingly fragmented, with capital flows potentially shifting between products rather than moving uniformly in one direction. Monitoring aggregate ETF flows alongside individual trust filings should therefore provide a clearer picture of whether institutional participation is strengthening or weakening.

Looking ahead, the key indicators will be XRP’s ability to defend the $1 level, subsequent ETF creation and redemption data, and whether Grayscale’s holdings stabilize after the first-half contraction. A renewed increase in XRP holdings would suggest that the trust’s earlier redemptions were episodic, while continued reductions across multiple products would provide stronger evidence of weakening institutional demand. The distinction will become increasingly important as XRP attempts to recover from its recent weakness and establish a more durable institutional market base.