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Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) license approval in Luxembourg completes Ripple’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) requirements, making it fully compliant for cryptoasset services across the European Economic Area

Luxembourg — 6 July 2026 – Ripple, the leading provider of blockchain-based enterprise solutions across traditional and digital finance, today announced it has received authorisation of its Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) license from Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF). The authorisation follows the preliminary approval announced in June 2026 and confirms Ripple as fully MiCA-compliant, with its end-to-end regulated crypto payments product now available to financial institutions, corporates and businesses across all 30 countries of the European Economic Area.

“This CASP authorisation means Ripple enters the post-transitional MiCA era fully compliant and ready to scale,” said Cassie Craddock, Managing Director, UK & Europe at Ripple. “The institutions we work with across Europe are looking to build their digital assets services alongside regulated partners, and Ripple is licensed and ready to meet that demand.”

Alongside its EU EMI license, Ripple’s CASP approval makes it one of a small number of digital asset firms to have full authorisation under MiCA, adding to a global portfolio of more than 75 regulatory licenses.

About Ripple

Founded in 2012, Ripple is the leading provider of blockchain-based enterprise solutions across traditional and digital finance. Its solutions span global payments, custody, liquidity, and treasury management, serving as a one-stop shop for moving, storing, exchanging, and managing value. Ripple's stablecoin, RLUSD, and the cryptocurrency XRP underpinning these solutions allow Ripple and its customers to shape the modern financial system.

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Celine Cheung

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XRP remains under pressure across both the USDT and BTC pairs, with sellers continuing to control the broader trend despite several short-lived recovery attempts. While the USDT chart shows buyers defending an important support area, the XRP/BTC pair continues to trade near multi-month lows, highlighting the token’s persistent relative weakness against the market leader.

Ripple Price Analysis: The USDT Pair On the daily timeframe, XRP continues to trade inside a well-defined descending channel, keeping the broader market structure firmly bearish. It remains below the 100-day and 200-day moving averages, both of which are sloping lower and acting as dynamic resistance above $1.25. This alignment suggests that momentum still favors sellers unless a meaningful trend reversal develops.

After losing the $1.25 level in early June, XRP found demand around the critical $1 region, where buyers have repeatedly stepped in to prevent further downside. This zone has now become the most important support to monitor. As long as it holds, the market could continue forming a short-term base.

On the upside, the first major resistance sits around $1.25. As mentioned earlier, this area also coincides with the descending 100-day moving average and the higher boundary of the channel, making it a significant hurdle for any sustained recovery. A successful breakout above this region would expose the 200-day moving average around $1.45, while losing the $1 support could accelerate another leg lower toward the channel’s lower trendline around $0.80.

Meanwhile, the RSI has been making higher lows despite the price making lower lows near $1, creating a developing bullish divergence. Although this does not confirm a reversal on its own, it suggests that bearish momentum might be exhausted and that buyers could attempt another recovery if resistance levels begin to weaken.

The BTC Pair Against Bitcoin, XRP continues to paint a weaker technical picture. Again, the pair remains below both major moving averages, which continue to trend lower and reinforce the long-term bearish structure.

After several weeks of sideways trading, XRPBTC is once again testing the key horizontal support around 1,700 sats. This level has acted as the floor for the recent consolidation, and another breakdown attempt is now underway. A confirmed daily close below 1,700 sats would likely invalidate the current range and increase the probability of an extension toward the next major demand zone around 1,450 to 1,500 sats.

To regain bullish momentum, buyers first need to reclaim the 1,850 sats resistance area, which also aligns closely with the declining 100-day moving average. Until then, every rally continues to appear corrective within the broader downtrend, which could lead to more depreciation for XRP against Bitcoin.

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https://u.today/xrp-ledger-nears-historic-1-million-ai-transactions-milestone-can-it-push-xrp-to-130

The XRP Ledger’s recent v3.2.0 upgrade has been adopted by 89% of its trusted validators, yet only 43% of all active nodes have followed suit, according to a report from CoinDesk. The upgrade, which includes infrastructure improvements and a rebranding of the core server software to “xrpld,” requires an 80% quorum of trusted validators to activate. Meanwhile, a bundled security amendment remains in the voting phase, needing 80% UNL support to proceed. This situation suggests a gradual yet incomplete transition to the upgraded network, raising questions about potential operational risks for nodes and exchanges that have not yet updated.

Market participants appear to view the partial adoption of the upgrade as consistent with positive momentum for XRP, suggesting potential impacts on price predictions. The current market data indicates a mixed outlook for XRP reaching its target prices in July, with only a small percentage of market pricing reflecting the likelihood of achieving notable price milestones. The market’s interpretation of these developments will likely shape future pricing scenarios in the coming weeks.

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The XRP price prediction market for July shows varied confidence levels in reaching different price points. For instance, the probability of XRP reaching $3.00 remains low at 0%, while a potential move to $1.40 is priced at 8% YES. This disparity reflects the current uncertainty and market participants’ cautious stance towards significant price jumps in the short term.

Key Takeaways The adoption of the XRP Ledger’s v3.2.0 upgrade appears consistent with supportive indicators for XRP, yet full activation remains pending. Market pricing suggests a low likelihood of XRP reaching the $3.00 target in July, with higher confidence in lower price targets. The ongoing security amendment vote could indicate significant changes in market sentiment once resolved. What to Watch Watch for the completion of the security amendment vote, as achieving the necessary 80% UNL support could influence market perceptions and pricing. Additionally, attention should be given to any announcements from key Ripple figures or analysts that might affect confidence levels in XRP’s ability to reach its target prices. The evolving adoption rate among active nodes will also be crucial in assessing potential operational risks and network stability.

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Term Structure

Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h August 1 2026 0.4% — — View market → August 1 2026 2.6% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.9% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.2% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.4% — — View market → August 1 2026 8% — — View market →

The cryptocurrency market experienced a sharp selloff on Wednesday after tensions over geopolitical matters escalated. The uncertainty comes as U.S. President Donald Trump said that the memorandum of understanding with Iran is now “over.” With this, Bitcoin fell below the $62,000 mark, leading the crypto market downturn. This causing nearly $450 million worth of leveraged liquidations in the market.

Crypto Market Liquidations Surge Amid US-Iran War Data from CoinGlass shows that over the last 24 hours, 145,221 traders were liquidated, totaling $449.63 million in liquidations. The losses at $343.43 million were mainly on the long side with $106.20 million being on the short side. Binance had the largest liquidation, with a $7.24 million ETHUSDT position being liquidated.

The most liquidated cryptocurrencies were Bitcoin with $99.90 million and Ethereum with $90.67 million. Other cryptocurrencies experienced a collective $60.83 million in liquidations, and Solana had $24.19 million in liquidations. Selling activity also was widespread throughout the market, with XRP seeing more than $9 million in liquidated positions.

This plunge in the market followed a sign that the diplomatic agreement between Washington and Tehran has failed. Speaking at the NATO summit, Trump said, “To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore.” He also described further negotiations as “just a waste of time dealing with them.”

Trump repeated that Iran would never get a nuclear weapon, but said that the negotiators were still eager to talk but “they have to come back” to me.

BTC Under Pressure With Fresh US-Iran Strikes Trump’s comments came on the heels of a new escalation in the Middle East. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s tough force, has announced it had responded to a series of U.S. strikes, ratcheted up sanctions on Iran’s export of oil and reacted to attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz by launching its own attacks on Washington’s military targets in Bahrain and Kuwait.

Geopolitical risks continued to drive oil prices up and weighed on risk assets such as crypto. Hence, Bitcoin price fell below $62,000 amid the ongoing US-Iran conflict.

In separate news, Israel’s Ynet news reported that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had cancelled his trip to Israel when tensions were ratcheting up in the region. This also led to a negative sentiment in the crypto market as geopolitical tensions continue.

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SBI VC Trade reported rising institutional demand for BTC and XRP as Japanese firms adjust treasury strategies amid continued yen weakness.

Corporate demand for Bitcoin and XRP is increasing in Japan as a weaker yen prompts companies to diversify their treasury holdings, according to crypto exchange SBI VC Trade.

The crypto arm of Tokyo-based SBI Holdings said that this trend has driven demand for its corporate-focused services.

Corporate Crypto Demand SBI VC Trade announced that its total registered accounts surpassed 2 million as of July 6, 2026, having doubled from more than 1 million in 2025. The figure includes users across both its VCTRADE and BITPOINT services following the merger with fellow SBI Group company Bitpoint Japan in April 2026, which the exchange said further strengthened its service infrastructure.

It attributed its continued growth to several factors, including its focus on secure and regulated trading services, an expanded range of crypto investment products, and efforts to improve accessibility for both retail and institutional users. Beyond retail products, the company also observed growing interest from corporate clients through its “SBIVC for Prime” service, which was designed for businesses and large-scale investors.

SBI VC Trade said the service has gained particular traction as Japanese firms adjust their treasury strategies in response to the weaker yen by incorporating crypto assets into their reserves. It also reported increased adoption among companies using Bitcoin and XRP as part of shareholder benefit programs.

Meanwhile, stablecoins have also become a major part of the exchange’s expansion strategy. After becoming the first exchange in Japan to support USDC in March 2025, it added the yen-denominated trust-type stablecoin JPYSC and Ripple’s US dollar-pegged RLUSD in June 2026.

Funding Round SBI Holdings has remained one of Japan’s most active financial players in the crypto sector. It recently led a $76 million Series C funding round in US-based institutional crypto exchange EDX Markets.

You may also like: SpaceX Bitcoin Wallet Wakes Up With a Tiny Transaction: What’s Next? Oil Soars, Bitcoin Plunges as Trump Declares Iran MoU ‘Is Over’ Rapid Retail Mood Swings Signal Caution as BTC Retreats Amid Iran Strikes The latter said it will use the capital to expand internationally and develop new products for its institution-only trading platform, which separates trading, custody, and settlement to reduce counterparty risk.

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XRP has slipped below a key short-term support near $1.10, with sellers regaining control as traders lock in profits after Ripple’s latest European regulatory win and macro risk sentiment weakens across global markets.

Summary

XRP has dropped below key support near $1.10 as profit-taking and long liquidations push the token toward $1. A descending channel, weakening RSI, bearish MACD setup, and dense liquidation zones reinforce downside risks. Ripple’s MiCA license and $4 billion in XRPL tokenized RWAs highlight long-term adoption despite near-term weakness. The token traded around $1.08 on Tuesday after falling from an intraday high near $1.18. The decline came shortly after Ripple secured a full Crypto-Asset Service Provider license from Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. Instead of extending the rally, the announcement triggered a classic sell-the-news reaction as traders booked gains following the regulatory milestone.

Fresh geopolitical tensions added pressure across risk assets. Reports of a tanker attack in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. airstrikes on Iran, and the removal of Iranian oil sales waivers pushed crude oil prices more than 2.5% higher.

The move lifted Treasury yields and weighed on equities, particularly technology stocks, dragging major cryptocurrencies lower alongside traditional markets.

At the same time, derivatives positioning amplified the decline. CoinGlass liquidation data shows dense leverage clusters above $1.10 and another major concentration near $1.14, while the latest three-day liquidation heatmap now reveals comparatively thinner liquidity below the market.

XRP liquidation heatmap | Source: CoinGlass As long positions were forced out during Tuesday’s decline, XRP quickly slid toward the next support zone around $1.08, leaving the psychological $1.00 level as the next major downside magnet if sellers remain in control.

A separate on-chain development has highlighted continued institutional interest in the XRP Ledger despite the token’s weak price action. According to crypto commentator Whale Factor, tokenized real-world assets on the network have surpassed $4 billion after standing near $150 million a year ago.

“The crypto as a toy narrative is dead. Tokenized RWAs on the XRP Ledger just smashed through the $4 BILLION mark,” Whale Factor wrote on X.

The growth underscores expanding enterprise adoption of the network, although investors have largely treated it as a long-term fundamental story rather than a catalyst for immediate token demand.

Technical breakdown has exposed the $1 psychological support The daily chart shows XRP trading inside a descending channel that has capped every recovery attempt since May. The latest rejection occurred after the token failed to hold above the channel’s upper boundary before falling back toward the lower half of the pattern.

XRP daily price chart — July 8 | Source: crypto.news Momentum indicators have also weakened. The daily Relative Strength Index has slipped to around 42 after failing to reclaim the neutral 50 level, while the MACD histogram has begun printing smaller positive bars as the MACD line curls toward a bearish crossover. Together, those indicators suggest buying momentum has faded after last week’s rebound.

The Fibonacci retracement drawn from the May high to the June low also places XRP below the 78.6% retracement level near $1.13. Immediate support sits around $1.01-$1.02 near the channel floor, with a decisive break opening the door to a test of the psychological $1.00 level. 

On the upside, bulls would first need to reclaim $1.13 before challenging resistance around $1.21, where the 61.8% Fibonacci level and previous supply zone converge.

The 4-hour chart presents a similar picture. Aroon Down has climbed to 100 while Aroon Up has retreated sharply, showing sellers currently dominate the short-term trend. Meanwhile, Chaikin Money Flow has remained only marginally above zero, suggesting capital inflows have weakened despite avoiding outright distribution.

XRP 4-hour price chart — July 8 | Source: crypto.news Macro risks could extend losses while a recovery requires reclaiming $1.13 Muted institutional participation has added another headwind. Spot XRP ETF flows have remained largely flat over recent sessions, while uncertainty surrounding the timing of the U.S. CLARITY Act continues to delay a key regulatory catalyst that many investors view as important for broader institutional adoption.

Further weakness in global equity markets or another spike in energy prices could accelerate risk aversion and increase pressure on altcoins. A daily close below the $1.01-$1.02 support area would strengthen the bearish case for a move toward $1.00 and potentially below it.

The downside outlook would weaken if buyers reclaim the $1.13 resistance zone and push XRP back above the descending channel’s upper trendline. Such a move would force short sellers to reassess positions and could shift attention toward the $1.21 resistance area, where the next major supply cluster remains concentrated.

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.

Ripple (XRP) continues to trade under heavy selling, trading below $1.10 at the time of writing on Wednesday. The remittance token marks four consecutive days of declines,  weighed down by geopolitical tensions and significantly low risk appetite.

Capital outflows, weak on-chain activity keep XRP under pressureXRP spot Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) activity remained muted on Tuesday and Monday, with no flows recorded, according to SoSoValue data. This muted activity suggests a withdrawal of demand rather than a complete loss of conviction in the digital asset. However, capital inflows remain pivotal in absorbing selling pressure and sustaining recoveries.

Cumulative inflows total $1.49 billion, with net assets under management at $1.02 billion, reinforcing investor long-term conviction in XRP.

XRP ETF flows | Source : SoSoValueOn-chain activity is weakening, according to Santiment’s data, showing active addresses at 14,500 on Wednesday, down from roughly 31,000 the day before. A wider scope cements the decline, given that network users sending and receiving assets on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) peaked at 43,000 on June 30. If sustained, the low on-chain activity would continue to weigh on demand, further limiting XRP’s upside.

XRP Active Addresses | Source: SantimentRetail demand for XRP is similarly suppressed, as futures Open Interest (OI) steadies at 213 billion XRP on Wednesday, up only marginally from 2.12 billion XRP the previous day. Nonetheless, CoinGlass data shows a gradual but sustained drop from 2.38 billion XRP on June 23, undermining investor appetite.

XRP Futures OI | Source: CoinGlassPrice analysis: XRP eyes short-term support at $1.05XRP trades at $1.08, extending a corrective phase below its key Exponential Moving Averages. The 50-day EMA at $1.18, together with the 100-day EMA at $1.28 and the 200-day EMA at $1.49, sits overhead and suggests a capped, bearish near-term bias while price remains under this layered resistance zone.

The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator edges in positive territory and hints at modest bullish momentum that has yet to challenge the dominant overhead structure on the daily chart. At the same time, Relative Strength Index (RSI) around 42 reinforces a consolidative tone rather than an immediate recovery.

XRP/USDT daily chartOn the topside, initial resistance lies at the 50-day EMA around $1.18, and a sustained move above this level would expose the next barrier at the 100-day EMA near $1.28 before the broader bearish framework defined by the 200-day EMA at $1.49 comes into view. Looking down, the first notable support emerges at the Parabolic SAR level around $1.02, where a break lower would likely revive selling pressure and open the door to further declines. On the other hand, a defensive hold above this marker would allow bulls to keep probing the clustered EMA resistance overhead.

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)

Open Interest, funding rate FAQs Higher Open Interest is associated with higher liquidity and new capital inflow to the market. This is considered the equivalent of increase in efficiency and the ongoing trend continues. When Open Interest decreases, it is considered a sign of liquidation in the market, investors are leaving and the overall demand for an asset is on a decline, fueling a bearish sentiment among investors.

Funding fees bridge the difference between spot prices and prices of futures contracts of an asset by increasing liquidation risks faced by traders. A consistently high and positive funding rate implies there is a bullish sentiment among market participants and there is an expectation of a price hike. A consistently negative funding rate for an asset implies a bearish sentiment, indicating that traders expect the cryptocurrency’s price to fall and a bearish trend reversal is likely to occur.

XRP's logo will appear on countless jerseys in the US.

‘History on a jersey patch.’ That’s how Ripple’s team on X described the new partnership between the company and the Kansas Jayhawks.

Mostly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, the Jayhawks are the athletic teams representing the University of Kansas. KU athletic teams have won 15 national championships, including 12 NCAA Division I titles. Now, they will carry XRP’s logo.

The Jayhawks’ X account noted that this partnership is a “shared commitment to innovation and excellence,” as the token’s logo will appear on all of their uniforms. Ripple said this is the first-ever crypto sponsorship of a major college athletics program.

The FAQs shared by both parties shed more light on the collaboration. It will start in the fall of this year, and the patch color will ‘match’ the “overall color scheme of Kansas athletics and corresponding uniforms.” The XRP patch will be either Crimson, Blue, or White.

The logo of the cryptocurrency will appear only on game jerseys and not on practice, travel, or sideline gear.

The team also warned that officially licensed Adidas game jerseys for sale at retail stores will not be emblazoned with the XRP patch. On the other hand, if fans purchase an official game jersey at the Kansas Athletics’ official team store called Jayhawk Outfitters, the patch can be added at the time of the transaction.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse also commented on the move, calling it a “rare moment where my professional and personal worlds collide.” Born and raised in Kansas, he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Kansas before getting an MBA from Harvard Business School.

You may also like: Ripple (XRP) Scores Major European Win With Full MiCA License Ripple’s OpenUSD Move: Payment Infrastructure Push or XRP Value Catalyst? What is OpenUSD (OUSD)? Visa, BlackRock, Coinbase, and 140+ Firms Fuel Buzz Around New Stablecoin Rare moment where my professional and personal worlds collide: XRP is now the first crypto on the jersey of a major college athletics program, at my alma mater.

XRP Family, meet the Jayhawks. Rock Chalk! https://t.co/F6uAL0kMNS

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) July 8, 2026

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Exchange reserves have fallen to a seven-year low of about 1.6 billion XRP, half what they were at the October 2025 peak. ETFs have absorbed nearly a billion tokens. Ripple still holds roughly 36 billion in escrow. This is the full map of where XRP’s supply actually sits in mid-2026, what moved, what it means, and why a shrinking float has so far failed to move the price.

Summary

XRP exchange reserves have fallen to a seven year low while spot ETFs have accumulated nearly one billion tokens and long term holders continue moving coins into private wallets. Ripple still controls about 36 billion XRP in escrow, but steady monthly releases and relocks have not stopped exchange balances from shrinking to multi year lows. The report says tighter supply alone has not lifted XRP’s price, with weak market demand continuing to outweigh the effects of a declining tradable float. Something unusual is happening to XRP’s supply, and it is happening quietly, underneath a price chart that has spent 2026 telling a story of decline. Exchange reserves, the pool of tokens sitting on trading venues ready to be sold, have fallen to roughly 1.6 billion XRP, the lowest level in seven years and down about 50% from the October 2025 peak of 3.76 billion. On Binance alone, the largest venue for the asset, reserves have dropped 20% since November 2024 to about 2.6 billion tokens across its wallets, pushing a metric called the Scarcity Index to its highest reading in more than two years. Meanwhile the seven US spot ETFs have quietly accumulated more than 970 million XRP, locked in custody on behalf of fund holders, after nine consecutive weeks of net inflows.

Tokens are leaving the places where they can be sold and accumulating in the places where they tend to sit still. In most assets, that migration is the textbook setup for a supply squeeze. In XRP, the price has fallen anyway, trading near $1.13, down roughly 70% from its July 2025 peak of $3.65, through the entire period in which the float was tightening.

That contradiction is the story. This piece maps the full distribution of XRP’s supply as of mid-2026: what sits on exchanges, what the ETFs hold, what Ripple controls in escrow and operational wallets, and what the remaining tens of billions in private hands are doing. It then works through why a halving of exchange reserves has not produced the price response the squeeze thesis predicts, the competing explanations for the gap, and the specific conditions under which a tight float starts to matter. The supply side of XRP has rarely been this interesting; the demand side is the reason nobody has noticed.

The map: 100 billion tokens, five buckets XRP’s supply structure is unlike any other major asset, and the map has to start from its founding fact: all 100 billion tokens were created at launch in 2012. There is no mining, no issuance schedule, no future supply beyond what already exists. About 14 million XRP have been permanently destroyed as transaction fees since then, a rounding error, leaving total supply just below 100 billion. Everything else is a question of where the existing tokens sit, and in mid-2026 they sit in five buckets.

The first bucket is Ripple’s escrow, the largest single concentration of XRP in existence at roughly 36 billion tokens, about 36% of total supply. These are time-locked on-chain contracts releasing one billion XRP on the first of each month, of which Ripple typically relocks 600 to 800 million and keeps a net 200 to 300 million for operations, a mechanism this publication has explained in full. In July, Ripple relocked about 70% of the monthly billion, releasing 300 million into circulation. The escrow is the structural overhang critics cite and the transparency mechanism defenders praise, and either way it is the slowest-moving bucket: at current net-release rates, depletion is roughly nine years out.

The second bucket is circulating supply proper, about 62 billion tokens, and the remaining buckets are subdivisions of it. Exchange reserves, the third bucket, are the sellable edge of the market: roughly 1.6 billion tokens across venues, the seven-year low. The fourth bucket is the ETF complex: seven US spot funds holding a combined 970 million or so tokens, a bit over $1 billion in assets, tokens held by custodians and effectively removed from trading circulation for as long as fund investors stay put. The fifth bucket, by far the largest slice of circulating supply, is everything else: private wallets, corporate treasuries, whale cold storage, and long-term holders, somewhere near 59 billion tokens whose owners have, on the evidence of on-chain data, been net withdrawers from exchanges for over a year.

Two things stand out from the map. First, the actively tradable float, the exchange reserves, is now under 3% of circulating supply and under 2% of total supply, remarkably thin for a top-six asset by market value. Second, the two fastest-growing buckets, ETF custody and private cold storage, are both one-way doors in the short term: tokens flow in easily and come back out only when holders make an affirmative decision to sell.

What moved, and why The reshaping of the map over the past eighteen months has three drivers, each visible on-chain.

The first driver is the ETF complex, which did not exist before November 2025. Since the first spot XRP fund launched, the products have absorbed roughly $1.5 billion in cumulative inflows, and because they hold the underlying token, every dollar of inflow is a market purchase moved into custody. The funds have now recorded nine consecutive weeks of net inflows, adding $17 million in the latest week even as Bitcoin and Ethereum funds bled, a rotation this publication has tracked. Nearly a billion tokens now sit in ETF custody, and the mechanism only reverses if fund investors redeem at scale, which, so far, they have done on exactly one notable day, the quarter-end outflow of June 30.

The second driver is whale and institutional withdrawal. CryptoQuant data shows the Binance drawdown accelerating recently, from about 2.8 billion tokens in May to 2.6 billion in early July, exactly the window in which the Scarcity Index broke out to 0.77. Large-holder activity has strengthened while retail stays cautious, new-wallet creation hit a three-month high, and Korean venues have recorded repeated multi-million-token outflows. The pattern, tokens moving from hot exchange wallets to cold private ones, is the classic signature of accumulation by holders with no near-term intention to sell.

Notably, this is the reverse of December 2024, when the Scarcity Index collapsed because holders were depositing XRP onto Binance in bulk to sell the rally to $3; today’s flows run the other way, out of the venues, into storage, at prices two-thirds lower.

The third driver is the escrow’s steady arithmetic. Ripple’s net release of 200 to 300 million tokens a month adds roughly 4-6% to circulating supply annually, a bounded, scheduled inflation the market can model years ahead. In 2026 the company has if anything leaned conservative, relocking 70% in recent months, and part of what it does release goes to institutional counterparties off-exchange, never touching the tradable float at all. The escrow is a source of supply, but it is a metered one, and its pace has not changed while the exchange drawdown accelerated, which means the drawdown is demand-side behavior, not a supply-side trick.

The puzzle: a tightening float and a falling price Here is where the story stops being simple. Every element above, reserves halved, ETFs absorbing, whales withdrawing, metered issuance, belongs to the standard playbook of a supply squeeze, the setup in which shrinking availability meets steady demand and the price ratchets upward because sellers become scarce. XRP has instead spent 2026 falling, from $2.41 in January to near $1 in late June, before the modest recovery to $1.13. The float tightened; the price halved. Any honest supply analysis has to explain that, and there are three serious explanations, not mutually exclusive.

The first is that scarcity on exchanges measures potential, not pressure. A thin order book amplifies whatever demand arrives; it does not create demand. Through 2026, demand has been the missing side: derivatives open interest collapsed from last year’s highs, retail participation stayed weak, funding rates flipped decisively negative as price approached $1, and ETF inflows, while persistent, ran at a pace of tens of millions per week, roughly the same order of magnitude as Ripple’s monthly net escrow release in dollar terms. Australian lawyer and longtime XRP commentator Bill Morgan has made the sharper version of this point: neither the supply-squeeze thesis nor the older escrow-dump fear explains XRP’s price well, because the dominant variable is simply Bitcoin, which fell through the same months and dragged the whole market with it. On this reading, the tight float is dry tinder, and 2026 has been a year without a spark.

The second explanation is that the headline reserve numbers may overstate the tightness. Skeptics of the squeeze thesis note that measured exchange reserves depend on which wallets analysts attribute to which venues, that internal transfers can masquerade as outflows, and that estimates of total platform-held XRP across all venues and custodians run far higher than the headline 1.6 billion, with some placing 14 to 16 billion tokens within fast reach of order books. The February-March episode in which roughly 350 million XRP dipped and rebounded on Binance, likely internal wallet reshuffling rather than organic flow, illustrates how noisy the data is. If the true sellable supply is several multiples of the visible reserve, the squeeze is further away than the dashboards suggest.

The third explanation is structural: the sellers who matter are not on exchanges yet. Millions of tokens were accumulated between $1.50 and $1.90 during the spring’s failed rallies, and holders underwater at those levels represent a standing wall of supply that will migrate back onto exchanges precisely when price approaches their break-even. Add Ripple’s monthly release and the possibility of ETF redemptions in a risk-off shock, and the tight float is best understood as tight at current prices, with reinforcements waiting at higher ones. Santiment’s MVRV data showing holders at their deepest unrealized losses in the token’s history cuts both ways: it signals capitulation-grade sentiment, and it also marks exactly where the exit orders cluster.

How to read the metrics without fooling yourself Because the supply story runs on a handful of dashboards, and because those dashboards are routinely misread in both directions, a short field guide to the metrics is worth the space.

Exchange reserves are an attribution exercise, not an audit. Analytics firms tag wallets they believe belong to venues and sum the balances, which means the headline number moves when tagging improves, when exchanges reorganize custody, and when internal transfers cross the tagged perimeter, none of which involves a single token changing owners. The 350 million XRP that appeared to leave and re-enter Binance across February and March was almost certainly internal wallet management, and any single week’s reserve print should be read with that episode in mind. The signal is in the trend across months and across independent data providers, and on that standard the 2026 drawdown is robust: the direction has been consistent since late 2024, it appears in CryptoQuant, exchange-published data, and third-party trackers alike, and it has accelerated instead of mean-reverting.

The Scarcity Index is a ratio, and ratios have two moving parts. The index compares available supply on Binance against demand conditions, so it can rise because tokens leave, because buying absorbs, or both, and it can whipsaw, as it did on the round trip from 0.80 in spring to 0.34 in June to 0.77 in July, without the underlying reserve base moving anywhere near as violently. Its historical extremes are more informative than its level: the deeply negative readings of December 2024 marked holders flooding coins onto the venue to sell a top, and the current two-year high marks the opposite regime, coins leaving into weakness. As a regime indicator it has value; as a timing tool it has embarrassed everyone who used it as one this year.

ETF holdings are the cleanest series in the entire picture, because fund custodians disclose and the products file, which is why the roughly 970 million tokens across the seven funds is the number this piece leans on hardest. Even here, one habit matters: distinguish flows from assets. Net assets fall when the price falls even while inflows continue, which is exactly what happened through the spring, deposits arriving as valuations shrank, and reading the AUM decline as investor exit inverted the truth. Flow data, positive for nine consecutive weeks, is the demand signal; asset data is mostly a price echo.

Escrow figures, finally, come with the strongest health warning of all, because the number that matters is not the billion that unlocks but the net that stays out, and the net is only knowable after the relock lands days later. Ripple’s own quarterly reports, the on-chain escrow contracts, and the monthly relock transactions are all public, and the discipline is to compute the net against the trailing 200-to-300-million average before drawing any conclusion. A month in which the net spikes above the band is a genuine signal about the company’s cash needs; a month of headlines about a billion-token unlock that ends in a 70% relock, like this July’s, is a signal about headlines. Every metric in this story is public, which is XRP’s genuine advantage as an object of analysis, and every one of them rewards the reader who checks the denominator before repeating the numerator.

What history says about tightening floats The squeeze thesis is not being invented for XRP in 2026; it has a track record in this asset and others, and the record is worth consulting because it cuts both ways.

The supportive precedent is 2024. Exchange outflows through that year preceded the powerful multi-month rally that carried XRP from under a dollar to its January 2025 highs above $3, with Korean regional demand and shrinking sell-side reserves amplifying the move once the SEC settlement and ETF approvals supplied the demand spark. The structure of that episode maps closely onto today’s: months of quiet withdrawal, a scarcity metric stretching to extremes, skeptics dismissing the data, and then a catalyst arriving into a market with far fewer sellers than buyers expected. Holders who lived through it read the current seven-year-low reserves as the same picture at an earlier frame.

The cautionary precedents are just as instructive. The Scarcity Index itself has whipsawed within 2026: it climbed to nearly 0.80 in the spring, sagged to 0.34 by late June amid heavy long liquidations, then broke out to 0.77 in the first week of July, and the price fell through the entire sequence. A metric that can round-trip that violently inside one quarter is measuring flow conditions, not destiny, and the June reading arrived alongside more than $13 million in single-day long liquidations, a reminder that leverage positioning can overwhelm spot scarcity on any given week. December 2024 offers the mirror lesson: reserves ballooned precisely at the top, as holders raced to deposit and sell the $3 rally, which is to say the metric is at its most bullish after prices have already fallen and its most bearish after they have already risen, a lagging emotional gauge as much as a leading structural one.

The broader crypto record adds a final nuance. Bitcoin’s great supply-squeeze narratives, the 2020-21 exchange exodus, the post-ETF custody absorption of 2024, each eventually mattered, and each mattered on the demand side’s schedule, not the supply side’s. Assets have sat at multi-year reserve lows for quarters while prices drifted, and then repriced in weeks once flows arrived, because a thin float does nothing until someone leans on it, at which point it does everything at once. That asymmetry, long stretches of irrelevance punctuated by sudden amplification, is the honest historical summary, and it is why the traders who take the supply map seriously express the view through patience and position sizing, the same execution discipline any thin market demands, rather than through timing calls the data cannot support.

There is one more structural actor worth watching that previous cycles lacked: the corporate and fund treasuries. Beyond the seven ETFs, a growing roster of listed companies has adopted XRP treasury strategies, and the ETF custodian wallets themselves have become the single most legible accumulation channel in the asset’s history, absorbing roughly 750 million tokens in their first two months alone. Treasury demand is slower and stickier than trader demand, it neither chases rallies nor panics in drawdowns on the same timescale, and its growth quietly raises the floor beneath the float. Whether it grows fast enough to matter against escrow issuance is, like everything in this story, a race whose lap times are published monthly.

What would make the float matter The supply map becomes decisive only when demand shows up, so the forward-looking question is what could supply the spark, and the candidates are concrete.

The nearest is legal. The CLARITY Act’s commodity classification for XRP, if enacted, is the gate behind which the large conditional forecasts sit: JPMorgan and Standard Chartered have each projected $4 to $8.4 billion in first-year ETF inflows under passage, an order of magnitude above the current run rate.

Flows of that size, arriving into a float of under two billion exchange-held tokens, are the scenario in which the scarcity math stops being academic; the Senate’s three-week window is therefore as much a supply-side story as a regulatory one. The second candidate is institutional adoption converting to token demand through collateral and settlement use, the slow path whose honest accounting runs through Ripple Prime, and the third is simply the market cycle: XRP has historically fallen harder than Bitcoin in downturns and snapped back harder in recoveries, and a thin float mechanically steepens the snapback.

Against these, the checkable risks: a CLARITY failure pushing institutional flows past 2027, ETF inflows decelerating or reversing for consecutive weeks, or reserves rebuilding as underwater holders redeposit into any rally. The dashboard for all of it is public. Exchange reserves, the Scarcity Index, weekly ETF flows, and the monthly escrow relock are each published within days, and together they will show the squeeze forming, or failing, in close to real time.

The conclusion the map supports is narrower than either camp’s slogan. XRP’s tradable supply has genuinely, measurably contracted to multi-year lows while long-horizon buckets absorbed the difference, and that contraction has been irrelevant to price for a year because demand collapsed faster than the float did. Scarcity is not a catalyst; it is a multiplier waiting for one. The honest position is that XRP enters the second half of 2026 with the most squeeze-prone supply structure it has had since at least 2019 and no evidence yet of the demand that would trigger it, which makes the supply map neither bullish nor bearish on its own, but the single best lens for judging how violently the price will move when the demand question, one way or the other, finally resolves.

One final frame is worth carrying away, because it reconciles everything above into a single sentence: XRP in mid-2026 is an asset whose company is accumulating credentials, whose long-horizon holders are accumulating tokens, and whose traders have spent a year accumulating losses, and the supply map is the ledger on which all three behaviors are legible at once. The reserves data records the holders’ conviction, the ETF flows record the institutions’ patient entry, the escrow relocks record the company’s restraint, and the price records the absence, so far, of anyone forced to compete for a shrinking float. Markets in this configuration tend to resolve abruptly rather than gracefully, because thin floats do not permit gradual repricing in either direction: the same scarcity that would turbocharge an inflow shock also means a demand collapse finds few bids on the way down, which is the double edge the squeeze narratives rarely mention. The map says the stage is set. It has never claimed to know the play.

For readers who want to run the numbers themselves, the recipe is short. Take the circulating supply of roughly 62 billion, subtract the ETF custody balance published in the funds’ daily disclosures, subtract the aggregated exchange reserves from at least two independent trackers, and treat the remainder as the private-holder bucket whose behavior the withdrawal trends describe. Cross-check the month’s escrow arithmetic against the on-chain relock, and note the week’s ETF flow direction. Fifteen minutes of public data, repeated monthly, reproduces every structural claim in this piece and will catch the turn, whichever way it breaks, well before the headlines do.

The last variable, as always with this asset, is the one no dashboard tracks: how much of the withdrawn supply belongs to hands that will actually hold through the next stress test. Cold-storage balances built at $1.10 by buyers who watched the token at $3.65 carry a different resolve than balances built chasing a rally, and the 2026 drawdown has, if nothing else, transferred an unusual share of the float to owners who bought weakness deliberately. That is not a prediction. It is the one qualitative fact the quantitative map quietly implies, and the one that will decide whether the next demand shock meets a wall of break-even sellers or an empty room.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Digital asset markets are volatile and you can lose your entire investment. On-chain and market figures are estimates current as of July 8, 2026, and may change. Always do your own research.

Cryptocurrencies are broadly extending declines on Wednesday, after last week’s recovery. The sell-off has seen Bitcoin (BTC) slide below $62,000, increasing downside risks toward the next key support at $60,000.

Ethereum (ETH) is edging lower, targeting the demand range at $1,700, while Ripple (XRP) remains under pressure, trading around $1.08.

Crypto sell-off intensifies as sellers assess Middle East conflictHeadwinds continue to weigh on the crypto market, as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East escalate. According to AP News, Iran launched attacks on American military bases in the Middle East on Wednesday in retaliation for attacks by the United States (US) on several places in Iran. The US has also reinstated sanctions on Iran’s Oil sales, saying that the developments were in response to Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

The fresh attacks have ignited fears that the war between the US and Iran could resume. US President Donald Trump fueled the fears, stating that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that paused fighting is “over.” However, Trump added that negotiations will be allowed to continue.

Oil prices jumped amid the attacks and geopolitical uncertainty. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude traded at $74 on Wednesday, up from $67 the previous day.

WTI Oil price chartAs tensions in the Middle East remain high, sentiment in the crypto market has deteriorated.  At 20, embedded in the Extreme Fear territory, the crypto Fear & Greed Index shows that appetite for risk assets is significantly suppressed.

Crypto Fear & Greed Index | Source: AlternativeBitcoin and Ethereum post mild ETF inflowsBitcoin spot Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) saw inflows resume, attracting $21 million on Tuesday, down from $266 million on Monday. This drawdown mirrors investors' concerns about tensions in the Middle East. Activity over the remaining days of the week would either reinforce the deteriorating sentiment or uphold a positive outlook. Besides, cumulative outflows stand at $51.37 billion, with net assets under management at $77.26 billion.

BTC ETF flows | Source: SoSoValueEthereum ETFs similarly extended the mild inflow streak with nearly $27 million recorded on Tuesday, up only slightly from $21 million on Monday. Cumulative inflows average $10.94 billion, with net assets under management at $9.53 billion.

ETH ETF flows | Source: SoSoValueAs for XRP, activity remained muted on Monday and Tuesday, according to SoSoValue data. This shows that while institutions appear to withdraw demand, long-term conviction in XRP remains intact, with cumulative inflows steady at $1.49 billion and net assets holding above $1 billion.

XRP ETF flows | Source: SoSoValuePrice analysis: Bitcoin losses deepen, eyes short-term supportBitcoin maintains a bearish near-term bias as the price remains well below the 50-day, the 100-day and the 200-day Moving Average Exponentials (EMAs). Moreover, the Crypto King is tracking a broader downward resistance trendline on the daily chart.

Momentum appears mixed, as the Relative Strength Index (14) around 45 leans slightly to the downside on the same chart, while the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) histogram stays positive, hinting that selling pressure is moderating rather than reversing decisively.

BTC/USDT daily chartOn the topside, initial resistance lies at the 50-day EMA near $65,540, with further supply layered at the 100-day EMA around $69,207 and the 200-day EMA close to $75,246, where the broader downtrend would be challenged. On the downside, first support emerges at the Parabolic SAR level around $59,434, followed by the prior trendline break price at $59,104, where buyers would need to step in to avoid a deeper slide toward the late-June lows.

Altcoins technical outlook: Ethereum and XRP remain under tight bearish gripEthereum trades at $1,738, maintaining a capped tone as it holds below the 50-day, 100-day and 200-day EMAs. Although momentum had improved with the MACD histogram in positive territory on the daily chart, the RSI has declined near the midline, suggesting that sellers are gaining traction.

ETH/USDT daily chartImmediate resistance lies at the 50-day EMA around $1,803, followed by the 100-day EMA near $1,964 and then the 200-day EMA around $2,251, where a reclaim would be needed to ease the broader downside pressure. On the downside, initial support lies at the current price area, with stronger underlying demand suggested by the Parabolic SAR level near $1,616. A daily close below this latter zone would likely reopen a deeper corrective phase.

XRP, on the other hand, maintains a bearish near-term bias. The token remains below the 50-day, 100-day and 200-day EMAs. The MACD indicator upholds a positive outlook on the daily chart. However, the RSI near 42 signals bears are tightening their grip.

XRP/USDT daily chartInitial resistance is seen at the descending trendline barrier around $1.16, followed by the 50-day EMA at $1.18, with the 100-day EMA at $1.28 and the 200-day EMA near $1.49 reinforcing a broader cap on recovery attempts. On the flip side, the first support sits at the Parabolic SAR level of $1.02. A daily close below this floor would open the way to a deeper retracement, while holding above it would keep XRP confined to a bearish but stabilizing range beneath the clustered EMAs.

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)

Bitcoin, altcoins, stablecoins FAQs Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, a virtual currency designed to serve as money. This form of payment cannot be controlled by any one person, group, or entity, which eliminates the need for third-party participation during financial transactions.

Altcoins are any cryptocurrency apart from Bitcoin, but some also regard Ethereum as a non-altcoin because it is from these two cryptocurrencies that forking happens. If this is true, then Litecoin is the first altcoin, forked from the Bitcoin protocol and, therefore, an “improved” version of it.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to have a stable price, with their value backed by a reserve of the asset it represents. To achieve this, the value of any one stablecoin is pegged to a commodity or financial instrument, such as the US Dollar (USD), with its supply regulated by an algorithm or demand. The main goal of stablecoins is to provide an on/off-ramp for investors willing to trade and invest in cryptocurrencies. Stablecoins also allow investors to store value since cryptocurrencies, in general, are subject to volatility.

Bitcoin dominance is the ratio of Bitcoin's market capitalization to the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies combined. It provides a clear picture of Bitcoin’s interest among investors. A high BTC dominance typically happens before and during a bull run, in which investors resort to investing in relatively stable and high market capitalization cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. A drop in BTC dominance usually means that investors are moving their capital and/or profits to altcoins in a quest for higher returns, which usually triggers an explosion of altcoin rallies.

XRP Is Set for a 16% Breakout, but Only if the Market Leader Behaves

Clearstream has expanded its institutional crypto custody service by adding six more digital assets.

Summary

Clearstream now supports eight crypto assets, widening institutional access beyond Bitcoin and Ether custody. The service uses Crypto Finance as sub-custodian, keeping the offering inside Deutsche Börse’s regulated structure. MiCA is pushing European institutions toward licensed custody, settlement, trading, and stablecoin infrastructure providers. Clearstream, the post-trade services provider owned by Deutsche Börse Group, said it now accepts Ripple-linked XRP, Cardano, Solana, Litecoin, Stellar, and Avalanche in its crypto custody offering. These assets join Bitcoin and Ether, which were already supported.

The move gives institutional clients a wider list of crypto assets inside Clearstream’s custody system. The firm said the expansion responds to growing demand for MiCA-compliant crypto assets in institutional finance.

Clearstream is one of Europe’s largest settlement and custody firms. Its parent, Deutsche Börse Group, operates across trading, clearing, settlement, and market infrastructure.

Crypto Finance remains sub-custodian Clearstream said the service continues to use Crypto Finance, another Deutsche Börse Group company, as sub-custodian. Crypto Finance holds a MiCAR license, which lets it provide regulated crypto services across Europe.

The structure allows Clearstream clients to access crypto custody through existing accounts with Clearstream Banking S.A. in Luxembourg. It also lets institutions use familiar market infrastructure instead of setting up direct relationships with separate crypto service providers.

When the service was first announced, Clearstream said it would support Bitcoin and Ether before considering more assets based on client demand. As previously reported by crypto.news, the original plan gave about 2,500 institutional clients access to crypto custody and settlement from April 2025.

MiCA shapes institutional demand The timing comes as Europe’s crypto market adjusts to the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. MiCA created a single rulebook for crypto-asset service providers, including custody, exchange, transfer, and stablecoin services.

Meanwhile, ESMA’s register expanded after the July 1 deadline, with more firms gaining authorization to serve clients across the European Union. That shift has made licensing a key part of institutional crypto access.

Clearstream’s expansion fits that market. Banks, brokers, asset managers, and trading firms need custody providers that can meet regulatory, settlement, reporting, and operational needs.

The new token list also shows that institutional access is moving beyond only Bitcoin and Ether. XRP, Solana, Cardano, Litecoin, Stellar, and Avalanche each have large public markets and established user bases.

Deutsche Börse widens digital asset rails Deutsche Börse Group has been building several digital asset services across its market infrastructure. Clearstream’s custody expansion adds another piece to that broader strategy.

Moreover,Deutsche Börse partnered with Circle to bring USDC and EURC into its trading and custody network under MiCA. The plan includes trading through 3DX and custody through Clearstream.

The group’s approach centers on regulated access rather than direct retail crypto services. Clearstream serves institutional clients that often need asset safety, settlement support, and clear legal structures before handling digital assets.

Japanese companies are quietly reshaping how they manage corporate cash. With the yen continuing to slide, more firms are turning to $BTC and $XRP as an alternative store of value, according to SBI VC Trade, the crypto arm of Tokyo-based financial group SBI Holdings.

The company said use of its corporate service, SBIVC for Prime, has grown as the weak yen drives firms to spread reserves beyond cash, with added demand from companies that hand out Bitcoin or $XRP through shareholder-perk programs. In other words, some Japanese businesses are not just holding crypto on the balance sheet, they are distributing it directly to investors as a form of shareholder reward.

Account milestone masks the full pictureSBI VC Trade said registered accounts across its VCTRADE and BITPOINT services have surpassed 2 million, roughly doubling since 2025 and aided by its April 2026 merger with BitPoint Japan. That headline figure deserves some context. The 2 million figure combines its VCTRADE and BITPOINT services and follows SBI VC Trade's April 2026 merger with sister firm BitPoint Japan. The company plans to fully integrate the two brands around the end of December, which it said should cut costs and unify service levels. So a meaningful portion of the account growth reflects consolidation rather than purely organic demand.

The milestone tracks a broader pickup in regulated crypto access in Japan, where a strict licensing regime has kept the market smaller than in the US or South Korea, but is steadily drawing retail and corporate users as stablecoins and treasury strategies take hold.

Stablecoins add another layerCorporate treasury adoption is not the only growth driver. SBI VC Trade listed USDC in March 2025 in what it called Japan's first dollar-stablecoin listing, and in June 2026 added Ripple's dollar-backed RLUSD alongside JPYSC, a yen-pegged token it described as the country's first trust-based yen stablecoin, and began offering lending against stablecoins.

SBI's ambitions extend well beyond the current account count. SBI's planned acquisition of Bitbank, announced in June 2026, is projected to add approximately 960,000 accounts, which would bring the combined total to around 2.92 million. That would place it ahead of domestic rivals bitFlyer and Coincheck and cement its position as Japan's largest regulated crypto operator.

The broader trend points to a structural shift in how Japanese corporates view digital assets: less as a speculative trade and more as a practical tool for treasury management and shareholder engagement in an environment of persistent yen weakness.

Sources:
CoinDesk: Bitcoin, XRP draw Japanese firms as weak yen drives treasury diversification
Genfinity: SBI acquires Bitbank, cementing Japan's largest regulated crypto operator

Tue, 7/07/2026 - 20:30

Clearstream, the major European post-trade services provider and subsidiary of the Deutsche Börse Group, is doubling down on its digital asset strategy by expanding its institutional cryptocurrency custody offering.

Clearstream, the major European post-trade services provider and subsidiary of the Deutsche Börse Group, has expanded its cryptocurrency custody footprint. 

The firm has announced the addition of a roster of new cryptocurrencies, including the Ripple-linked XRP, Stellar (XLM), Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), Litecoin (LTC), and Avalanche (AVAX). These new digital assets join Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). 

According to the firm, this expansion caters to the growing demand for MiCA-compliant (Markets in Crypto-Assets) digital assets within institutional finance.

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Initial entry into crypto Clearstream is one of the world's largest settlement and custody firms. It provides infrastructure securities across 60 different markets.

In early 2025, the Deutsche Börse Group announced that Clearstream would begin offering crypto custody and settlement services to its institutional clients.

The launch, which officially went live in April 2025, was made possible via an internal partnership. Clearstream used Crypto Finance (another entity within the Deutsche Börse Group that had recently secured a highly coveted MiCAR license) as its sub-custodian. 

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This structure made it possible for Clearstream to rely on Crypto Finance's expertise while maintaining strict regulatory compliance across Europe.

As mentioned above, the original offering was strictly limited to the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization: Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Clients of Clearstream’s International Central Securities Depository (ICSD) were able to use their existing accounts in Clearstream Banking S.A. (Luxembourg) to access cryptocurrency custody and settlement.

The most recent additions show that the firm is doubling down on crypto. 

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Clearstream, the post-trade services arm of Deutsche Börse Group, has expanded its regulated crypto custody offering to include six new digital assets beyond Bitcoin and Ether: $XRP, $ADA, $SOL, $LTC, $XLM, and $AVAX.

Six Altcoins Enter Institutional-Grade CustodyThe expansion builds on Clearstream's fully regulated crypto custody service launched last year. The firm says the move broadens client choice in crypto asset integration within established custody infrastructure, bridging the gap between traditional finance and the digital asset world. All six additions are held under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation framework, via Crypto Finance, a MiCAR-regulated sub-custodian that is also part of Deutsche Börse Group.

Clearstream operates the German and Luxembourg central securities depositories and an international central securities depository for the Eurobonds market, with roughly €19 trillion in assets under custody, placing it among the world's largest settlement and custody firms for domestic and international securities. Putting altcoins on that shelf is not a symbolic gesture. It means regulated European institutions can now hold $XRP, $SOL, $ADA, $LTC, $XLM, and $AVAX through the same post-trade plumbing they use for equities and bonds.

MiCA Framework and the Crypto Finance ConnectionThe custody and settlement service is delivered through Crypto Finance, in which Deutsche Börse acquired a controlling stake for more than €100 million in 2021. Crypto Finance (Deutschland) GmbH is regulated by BaFin in Germany, while Crypto Finance AG is regulated by FINMA in Switzerland. The group secured its MiCAR license in January 2025, one of the first providers to do so in the EU.

Clients of Clearstream's International Central Securities Depository can access crypto custody and settlement through their existing Clearstream Banking S.A. accounts in Luxembourg, using established formats such as SWIFT. No additional contractual or technical relationship with separate crypto service providers is required. Clearstream says the expansion caters to the growing importance of MiCA-compliant crypto assets in institutional finance.

The infrastructure is now in place. Whether institutional capital follows in meaningful size remains the central question.

Sources:
Asset Servicing Times: Clearstream adds six new cryptocurrencies to custody offering
LeapRate: Clearstream expands crypto custody to 6 new digital assets
Clearstream official newsroom: Deutsche Börse Group provides institutional clients access to crypto assets

The XRP Ledger has moved closer to activating its xrpld v3.2.0 upgrade after more than 55% of trusted validators adopted the latest software version. According to XRP Ledger Explorer data, 84 trusted validators, or 55.63% of the validator set, are now running xrpld v3.2.0. By comparison, version 3.1.3 remains active on 58 validators, representing 38.41% of the validator set, and on 440 nodes, or 52.51% of the network.

What the v3.2.0 Upgrade Includes XRP Ledger version 3.2.0 includes infrastructure improvements, bug fixes, and developer enhancements throughout the network. One of the most significant changes is the official renaming of the main server software from rippled to xrpld, under the XLS-0095 proposal. The software identity rebrand explicitly reinforces the decoupling of the decentralized public ledger from Ripple Inc., while technical enhancements optimize backend architecture, dropping overall validator server memory consumption by 30 to 40 percent.

Alongside the software release, developers also introduced the fixCleanup3_2_0 amendment. According to the release documentation, the amendment contains security-related fixes covering Single Asset Vaults, the Lending Protocol, permissioned decentralized exchanges, Multi-Purpose Tokens (MPTs), and permissioned domains. In addition, the update allows developers and users to access XRP Ledger protocol information and server definitions without operating a full server, a change intended to simplify integrations for wallets, APIs, blockchain explorers, and other automated services.

What Still Needs to Happen Before Activation Under the network's governance rules, a protocol amendment requires support from more than 80% of trusted validators for two consecutive weeks before it can be activated. Based on the current figures, roughly another quarter of the validator set must migrate to v3.2.0 before the upgrade can move toward activation. Even as validator adoption of the software continues to climb, support for the attached fixCleanup3_2_0 amendment remains well below the activation threshold, with the amendment having secured roughly 40% support so far.

Ripple has publicly supported the amendment, helping strengthen confidence around the proposed changes. Security firm Halborn completed a third-party audit of both amendments before the protocol entered the mainnet validator voting stage, adding further reassurance for the lending-related fixes bundled into the update. Developers are also continuing to monitor validator migration issues flagged in the project's GitHub tracker, though none of the documented defects have triggered network-wide service disruptions.

Sources:
XRP Ledger edges closer to key upgrade as validator support surges (crypto.news)
XRP Ledger v3.2.0 Full Upgrade Inches Closer As Validator Adoption Hits 55% (CoinGape)
XRP Ledger Amendments documentation (xrpl.org)

Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) face renewed selling on Wednesday, extending their corrective move so far this week. BTC faced rejection at $64,000, and ETH failed to break above the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA). Meanwhile, XRP is extending its pullback for a fourth consecutive day. The top three cryptocurrencies signal risk of extending their ongoing corrections if critical support levels fail to hold.

Bitcoin extends correction after rejection at $64,000Bitcoin price trades at $62,898 on Wednesday, maintaining a bearish near-term bias as it holds below the 50-day, 100-day and 200-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs) at $65,578, $69,226 and $75,229, respectively. 

The dense overhead EMA stack suggests rallies remain capped for now, even as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) hovers near a neutral 48 and the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) stays positive with the line above zero, and recent gains hint at improving but constrained upside momentum.

On the topside, initial resistance appears at the horizontal barrier around $64,004, followed by the 50-day EMA at $65,578, which reinforces a nearby supply zone. Higher up, the 100-day EMA at $69,226 and the 200-day EMA at $75,229 mark successive caps ahead of the more distant structural ceiling at $84,410, leaving the pair vulnerable to renewed selling while price trades beneath this layered resistance structure.

Ethereum faces rejection from the 50-day EMA at $1,803Ethereum price trades at $1,753 on Wednesday, maintaining a bearish near-term bias as it remains below the 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day EMAs at $1,803, $1,964, and $2,234, respectively. 

Despite price being capped by this stacked EMA cluster, momentum has improved, with the RSI hovering near a neutral 52 and the MACD remaining in positive territory, with a firm reading around 27.75, hinting at ongoing recovery attempts within a broader downtrend.

On the topside, immediate resistance is located at the 50-day EMA near $1,803, followed by the 100-day EMA at $1,964 and the psychological barrier at $2,000, while the longer-term 200-day EMA at $2,234 marks a stronger cap on any extended rally.

On the downside, the next notable support sits much lower at the horizontal level around $1,385, where buyers are likely to defend the prior structural floor if the current rebound fails.

XRP shows signs of weaknessXRP price trades at $1.097 on Wednesday, holding below the 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day EMAs at $1.177, $1.279, and $1.493, respectively, which keeps the broader bias bearish. Price is also tracking within a downward parallel channel, with the upper boundary around $1.098 just above the market, while momentum looks mixed: the RSI at 44 remains below the midline, and the MACD prints modest positive readings, hinting at only a mild recovery attempt within a capped structure.

On the topside, initial resistance is located at the channel boundary near $1.098, followed by the 50-day EMA at $1.177 and the 100-day EMA at $1.279. Higher up, the horizontal level at $1.300 acts as a more significant barrier ahead of the long-term 200-day EMA at $1.493 and the major resistance zone around $1.900. 

With no clear underlying support levels immediately below the current price in this dataset, any decisive rejection at the nearby $1.098 area would likely expose XRP to further downside within the prevailing bearish channel until new demand emerges.

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)

Cryptocurrency prices FAQs Token launches influence demand and adoption among market participants. Listings on crypto exchanges deepen the liquidity for an asset and add new participants to an asset’s network. This is typically bullish for a digital asset.

A hack is an event in which an attacker captures a large volume of the asset from a DeFi bridge or hot wallet of an exchange or any other crypto platform via exploits, bugs or other methods. The exploiter then transfers these tokens out of the exchange platforms to ultimately sell or swap the assets for other cryptocurrencies or stablecoins. Such events often involve an en masse panic triggering a sell-off in the affected assets.

Macroeconomic events like the US Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates influence crypto assets mainly through the direct impact they have on the US Dollar. An increase in interest rate typically negatively influences Bitcoin and altcoin prices, and vice versa. If the US Dollar index declines, risk assets and associated leverage for trading gets cheaper, in turn driving crypto prices higher.

Halvings are typically considered bullish events as they slash the block reward in half for miners, constricting the supply of the asset. At consistent demand if the supply reduces, the asset’s price climbs.

Crypto Market Slips 1.24% as US Strikes on Iran Lift Oil

Bitcoin touched $64,000 on Tuesday, supported by robust spot ETF inflows, sustained institutional demand and improving market sentiment.

Notable Statistics:

Coinglass data shows 98,815 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours for $417.63 million.        SoSoValue data shows net inflows of $265.7 million from spot Bitcoin ETFs on Monday. Spot Ethereum ETFs saw net inflows of $20.7 million. In the past 24 hours, top gainers include MemeCore, Zcash and Sun. Notable Developments:

Trader Notes:

Trader exitpump expects Bitcoin to remain range-bound through the summer, with price action between $67,000 and $74,000. Rather than trying to call the exact bottom, the focus is on trading the current range until a clearer breakout or breakdown emerges.

Daan Crypto Trades highlighted Spot Bitcoin ETF flows have turned positive since Friday after one of the largest selling streaks on record.

Despite continued ETF outflows after Bitcoin first tested the $60,000 level in June, the crypto king has held above that support, suggesting significant buying demand and absorption in that price zone. The key question now is whether renewed ETF inflows can shift momentum and spark a sustained recovery.

CryptosBatman said Bitcoin remains locked in a broad macro consolidation range, with price continuing to build a long-term base.

Historically, extended periods of low volatility and sideways trading have preceded the strongest rallies, suggesting a completed base could pave the way for the next major expansion phase.

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Japan's SBI Holdings has crossed 2 million registered accounts on its crypto exchange platform, a milestone that reflects both deliberate corporate strategy and a broader shift in how Japanese retail investors are engaging with digital assets.

A Milestone Shaped by Consolidation and Loyalty Programs The 2 million figure was recorded on July 6, and it was not achieved through organic growth alone. The round figure was formed through the merger of accounts from the VCTRADE and BITPOINT platforms following SBI's April acquisition of BITPoint Japan. That deal accelerated a push that SBI's management had been building through a series of crypto reward programs tied to its broader financial product suite.

At the center of that push is $XRP. SBI Holdings distributed $XRP to its own shareholders as a formal shareholder benefit, a program renewed in 2026 with distributions beginning May 1, effectively reaching hundreds of thousands of Japanese retail investors. The tiers are modest but deliberate: shareholders holding 100 to 999 shares receive 500 yen worth of $XRP, while investors with 1,000 or more shares may receive up to 1,000 yen in $XRP depending on their holding period.

The rewards do not stop at share ownership. In February 2026, SBI issued a blockchain-based bond worth 10 billion yen, approximately $64.5 million, that rewarded retail investors with $XRP alongside fixed interest payments. Separately, SBI Shinsei Bank launched a pilot program on June 10, 2026, that lets depositors redeem 20% of their deposit interest as vouchers for cryptocurrencies, including $BTC and $XRP, targeting around 4.33 million eligible accounts.

Yen Weakness and the Search for Alternative Assets The timing of this retail crypto surge is not coincidental. A sustained weakening of the Japanese yen has pushed both corporations and individual savers to look beyond traditional yen-denominated instruments. Japanese firms are not accumulating $BTC and $XRP for classic exchange speculation, but for a new national practice in which corporations include cryptocurrency in their shareholder loyalty programs.

SBI Holdings has maintained close ties with Ripple since 2016 and remains one of its largest external shareholders, with an estimated 9% equity stake. That relationship now underpins a financial infrastructure stack spanning tokenized securities, stablecoin distribution, and payment corridors. SBI VC Trade began distributing Ripple's U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, in Japan on March 31, 2026, following Japan's revised Payment Services Act.

SBI's ambitions in the domestic exchange market are clear. The conglomerate's goal is to overtake historical competitors by client base, including Coincheck, which still leads with 2.62 million accounts, and to build a full-fledged on-chain ecosystem anchored around Ripple and XRP Ledger technologies.

Sources
Crypto Briefing: SBI VC Trade surpasses 2M registered accounts as Japanese firms use Bitcoin and XRP for loyalty programs
U.Today: Japanese Firms Accumulate More Bitcoin and XRP Amid Yen Drop, SBI Reports
DL News: Japanese securities giant to issue $65 million worth of XRP-paying blockchain bonds

Updated Jul 7, 2026, 1:37 p.m. Published Jul 7, 2026, 1:26 p.m.

2 min read

Summary

Japanese companies are increasingly adding bitcoin and XRP to their corporate treasuries as a weak yen pushes firms to diversify beyond cash, according to SBI VC Trade.The exchange said registered accounts across its VCTRADE and BITPOINT services have surpassed 2 million, roughly doubling since 2025 and aided by its April 2026 merger with BitPoint Japan.Demand for stablecoins such as USDC, Ripple’s dollar-backed RLUSD and the yen-pegged JPYSC, along with new lending services, is helping drive crypto adoption among retail and corporate users in Japan.Japanese companies are turning to bitcoin and XRP as a weak yen pushes them to diversify their corporate treasuries, according to SBI VC Trade, as the crypto exchange's registered accounts passed 2 million.

The crypto arm of financial group Tokyo-based SBI Holdings said use of its corporate service, SBIVC for Prime, has grown as the weak yen drives firms to spread reserves beyond cash, with added demand from companies that hand out bitcoin or XRP through shareholder-perk programs.

It reported the account milestone on Tuesday, roughly double the 1 million it counted in 2025.

The 2 million figure combines its VCTRADE and BITPOINT services and follows SBI VC Trade's April 2026 merger with sister firm BitPoint Japan. The company plans to fully integrate the two brands around the end of December, which it said should cut costs and unify service levels.

Stablecoins have been a second driver. These are digital tokens designed to hold a fixed value against a fiat currency like the dollar or yen. SBI VC Trade listed USDC in March 2025 in what it called Japan's first dollar-stablecoin listing, and in June 2026 added Ripple's dollar-backed RLUSD alongside JPYSC, a yen-pegged token it described as the country's first trust-based yen stablecoin, and began offering lending against stablecoins.

CoinDesk reported the RLUSD launch in Japan earlier this year, which ran through SBI VC Trade under the country's approval regime.

The milestone tracks a broader pickup in regulated crypto access in Japan, where a strict licensing regime has kept the market smaller than in the U.S. or South Korea but is steadily drawing retail and corporate users as stablecoins and treasury strategies take hold.

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XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) remains in a downtrend, but positive signals from tokenized asset growth and on-chain scarcity signal sound network fundamentals.

Real-World Asset Demand SurgesAround $4 billion in tokenized real-world assets now sit on the XRP Ledger, according to market commentary shared by crypto researchers at EvernorthXRP in an X post on July 6.

This is almost four times the size of XRP’s spot ETF market.

Institutional use cases are also beginning to emerge.

Earlier this year, a tokenized Treasury redemption involving JPMorgan, Ondo and Mastercard reportedly settled on the XRP Ledger in about four seconds.

Spot XRP ETFs have also recorded eight straight weeks of net inflows, including about $23 million in the last full week of June and roughly $1.47 billion cumulatively.

Meanwhile, crypto researcher BankXRP noted that new XRP wallets climbed to 26,000 in the last full week of June, the highest weekly count since March and a 40% increase from the prior week.

"On-chain adoption doesn’t lie," the research said, asking whether XRP is in an accumulation phase or if "something bigger" is developing.

Binance XRP Scarcity Index Hits 1-Year HighIn an X post on July 6, CryptoQuant data shows the Binance XRP Scarcity Index rose to roughly 0.77 over the past three days, its highest level since mid-2024, while XRP traded near $1.10.

The increase suggests XRP availability on Binance has declined compared with previous periods, potentially due to lower deposits, higher withdrawals or more tokens moving into off-exchange holdings.

A rising scarcity index can point to reduced potential selling pressure, since fewer tokens are available for sale on the platform.

However, CryptoQuant noted that scarcity alone does not guarantee continued upside.

The key factor will be whether demand strengthens while exchange supply remains constrained.

Together, tokenized asset growth, ETF inflows, new wallets and shrinking Binance availability suggest XRP demand is appearing across multiple channels at the same time.

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Table of contents

Seven days of green. Then this. XRP dropped 2.3%, tagged $1.11, and bounced. One red candle does not kill a rally. But it does ask the rally a question, and the answer is due at $1.11.

XRP trades at $1.13 as of July 7, 2026, down 2.3% over 24 hours, per CoinGecko. The day’s range: $1.11 to $1.16. Market cap $70.29 billion, still the sixth-largest asset in crypto. Volume did not go quiet during the dip. $1.44 billion changed hands in 24 hours. Sellers showed up. Buyers met them at $1.11.

The Unique Angle: the first pullback, and where it stopped Zoom out one week and the red day shrinks. XRP is still up 8.1% over seven days, one of the stronger prints in the top 10, behind only ETH’s 11.7% and SOL’s 10%. Today was not a trend change. It was the first profit-taking session of the move, and the location of the bounce is the actual news.

The intraday chart tells it plainly. XRP opened near $1.15, bled through the European session, knifed to $1.11 around 15:00, and reversed. No panic wick below. No cascade. The dip found bids exactly where a healthy uptrend should find them: at the top of the old range, roughly where the breakout started. Also worth saying: XRP fell 2.7% against Bitcoin today. The pullback is partly rotation back into BTC, not just XRP weakness. That distinction matters for what comes next.

The other side. First pullbacks are also where failed rallies announce themselves. A bounce on day one proves nothing until it holds on day two. If $1.11 gives way tomorrow, this stops being a dip and starts being a top. Both readings are live. The level decides.

The One Number That Matters $42.6 billion. That is the gap between XRP’s fully diluted valuation ($112.91 billion) and its market cap ($70.29 billion).

Translation: 62.24 billion XRP circulate today out of a 100 billion maximum. Nearly 38 billion tokens, most of them in escrow, sit outside the market and are released on a schedule. At today’s price, that is a supply overhang worth 42.6 billion dollars standing behind every rally. It does not sell all at once, and much of each monthly release historically goes back into escrow. But it is the structural reason XRP rallies carry a built-in headwind that Bitcoin’s do not: the float grows. Anyone modeling XRP at three dollars is really modeling demand strong enough to absorb both the market and the schedule. On the constructive side, CoinGecko’s treasury tracker shows about 473.3 million XRP held in corporate treasuries, a small but real pool of supply that has chosen to sit still.

Key Levels Support: $1.11, today’s low and the line the bounce drew. Below it, the round $1.00, which is more psychology than chart but XRP has respected round numbers forever. Resistance: $1.16, today’s high. Reclaim it and the pullback is finished business. The map is narrow. $1.11 to $1.16. Five cents decide the week.

Supporting Context The pullback landed on a green board, which cuts both ways. Bitcoin held near $63,300, up 6.4% on the week. Ethereum led the majors at +11.7%. When the market rises and one major falls, the simplest explanation is usually the right one: XRP outran the pack early, and today the pack collected the spread. Rotation, not rejection. Unless $1.11 breaks, in which case rewrite that sentence.

Seasonality watchers will also note the calendar. July has historically been kind to XRP; this site has covered that pattern before, including the outsized July 2020 gain of 48%. Patterns are not promises. They are context. A 2.3% dip on July 7 does not repeal a monthly tendency, and a monthly tendency does not guarantee a green close. Hold both thoughts.

Bottom Line One red day after seven green ones is maintenance, not damage. The bounce at $1.11 was clean, the volume stayed real at $1.44 billion, and the weekly gain of 8.1% is intact. The bear case needs a close below $1.11 to exist. The bull case needs $1.16 back to resume. Until one of those happens, this is a rally catching its breath. XRP is at $1.13. Down on the day. Up on the week. Still above the line that matters.

This article is for information only and is not investment advice. Crypto assets are extremely volatile and you can lose your entire stake. Always do your own research.

Frequently Asked Questions What is the XRP price today? XRP trades at $1.13 as of July 7, 2026, down 2.3% over 24 hours, with a market cap of $70.29 billion and $1.44 billion in daily volume.

Why is XRP down today? The data points to profit-taking after an 8.1% weekly gain and rotation back toward Bitcoin: XRP fell 2.7% against BTC while the broader market stayed green. The dip stopped at $1.11 and bounced.

Is the XRP rally over? Not on this evidence. The weekly uptrend is intact and the first pullback held support at $1.11. A daily close below $1.11 would be the first real warning; reclaiming $1.16 would resume the move.

How much XRP is in circulation? About 62.24 billion XRP out of a 100 billion maximum supply. Roughly 38 billion tokens remain outside circulation, most held in scheduled escrow releases.

What is XRP's fully diluted valuation? About $112.91 billion at today's price, versus a $70.29 billion market cap. The $42.6 billion gap represents the value of tokens not yet in circulation.

Can XRP hold above $1? $1 is the major psychological floor and sits below the nearer support at $1.11. As long as $1.11 holds on a closing basis, the $1 question stays academic.

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As financial infrastructure providers turn to blockchain-based solutions to overhaul cross-border payments, the institutional use of stablecoins is rapidly expanding. The latest example is Nuvion’s integration of Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin into its global banking and payments platform.

Unified access to fiat and digital assets via a single APIBy adding RLUSD to its AI-powered platform, Nuvion aims to deliver faster reconciliation to corporations and fintech firms. With this integration, users can seamlessly access blockchain-enabled payment flows without disconnecting from traditional financial infrastructure.

The inclusion of RLUSD marks another step in broadening Nuvion’s unified finance platform. Now, businesses can transition between fiat currencies and digital assets through a single API, enabling the use of various payment channels within the same ecosystem.

Mini glossary: RLUSD is a stablecoin developed by Ripple, designed with regulatory compliance in mind. XRPL is the open-source blockchain network in Ripple’s ecosystem, focusing on digital asset transfers.

Cross-border payments have long struggled with issues such as redundant intermediary banks, high transaction costs, delayed transfers, and limited transparency. These challenges can put pressure on company cash flows, complicate treasury management, and slow the pace of international trade.

Accelerating settlement for institutional paymentsNuvion believes that integrating RLUSD could help alleviate many of these pain points. The company’s solution aims to offer near real-time settlement, more efficient liquidity management, and blockchain-based payment options tailored for institutional use.

Nuvion CEO Keisha Clark explained that the future of global payments is real-time, programmable, and borderless, and that RLUSD integration will enable businesses to access faster settlements, greater flexibility, and modern financial services through a unified platform.

With this expanded platform, businesses can manage treasury operations across multiple currencies and embed stablecoin payments directly into their applications—without having to set up their own blockchain infrastructure. This approach may simplify payment processes and reduce technical burdens for enterprises.

Ripple strengthens RLUSD role in institutional paymentsThe partnership also supports Ripple’s strategy to promote RLUSD in enterprise payment networks. Ripple, a financial technology leader in digital payment solutions, focuses on using blockchain infrastructure for cross-border transfers.

RLUSD can be utilized on both the XRP Ledger and Ethereum networks, providing companies with access to multiple blockchain ecosystems while supporting greater liquidity in Ripple’s digital payments network.

Regulatory-compliant stablecoins are standing out as key instruments bridging the gap between traditional finance and blockchain, especially as demand grows for faster, more efficient global transactions.

Nuvion’s RLUSD integration is viewed as a significant step toward continuous, compliance-focused, and programmable networks for corporate payment infrastructure. This transformation is expected to improve payment flows in cross-border trade.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

Ripple has secured full MiCA approval in Luxembourg as XRP spot ETFs have extended their inflow streak to eight consecutive weeks, even as XRP traded lower over the past 24 hours.

Summary

Ripple has secured a full MiCA license in Luxembourg, allowing regulated crypto services across the European Economic Area. XRP spot ETFs have extended their inflow streak to eight weeks, with cumulative net inflows reaching $1.49 billion. XRP is holding near key technical support around $1.12 as traders watch for a move toward $1.15–$1.18. According to Ripple, the Luxembourg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) has granted the company a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) license under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework.

It’s official: Ripple has received its EU CASP license. We are now fully MiCA-compliant and ready to meet growing European crypto demand https://t.co/I9GRgvfGzH

— Ripple (@Ripple) July 6, 2026 The approval allows Ripple to passport regulated crypto services across all 27 European Economic Area member states, strengthening its regulated payments business in the region.

According to data from crypto.news, XRP (XRP) traded at around $1.13 on Tuesday, down 1.1% over the previous 24 hours, although the token remained nearly 9% higher for the week. The decline came while Bitcoin held onto weekly gains of more than 10%, despite weakness in U.S. equities and higher oil prices linked to geopolitical tensions. 

Investors also continued to watch developments surrounding the final version of the GENIUS Act, expected before July 18, while Ether changed hands near $1,800.

Ripple adds another EU regulatory approval Following its initial MiCA clearance in June, Ripple said the newly issued CASP license completes its authorization process under the EU’s digital asset rules. The company noted that the approval complements its existing European e-money license, allowing it to offer regulated crypto payment services throughout the European Economic Area.

Ripple said the combined regulatory approvals support its cross-border payments business serving banks, financial institutions, and enterprises while providing a clearer compliance framework for crypto transactions. The company also expects the licensing framework to support adoption of both XRP-based payment products and its RLUSD stablecoin in Europe.

Commenting on the development, Ripple’s Managing Director for the UK and Europe, Cassie Craddock, said the company is now fully prepared to expand under the MiCA framework after completing the regulatory transition.

We’re fully licensed in Europe and excited to keep building on the incredible momentum of recent months. Let’s go!🚀 https://t.co/LVKKKgpKVX

— Cassie Craddock (@CraddockCJ) July 6, 2026 Technical indicators also suggest XRP is testing an important level following its recent rally. On the 4-hour chart, the token is trading near the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement around $1.12 while remaining above the Supertrend support near $1.11.

XRP 4-hour price chart — July 7 | Source: crypto.news At the same time, Chaikin Money Flow has stayed slightly above zero, indicating buying interest has not fully disappeared despite the recent pullback.

ETF demand continues supporting XRP Institutional interest has remained steady alongside Ripple’s regulatory progress. According to SoSoValue, XRP spot exchange-traded funds have now recorded eight consecutive weeks of net inflows, with cumulative net inflows reaching $1.49 billion.

SoSoValue data showed no new daily inflows on July 6, but cumulative assets under management continued to stand at approximately $1.05 billion, representing about 1.47% of XRP’s total market capitalization.

Trading activity across listed XRP spot ETFs reached $14.48 million during the latest session. Bitwise’s XRP fund remained the largest with $330.84 million in net assets, followed by Canary at $265.30 million and Franklin at $261.68 million. According to SoSoValue, the XRP-linked investment products also finished the session with gains of more than 5%.

From a technical perspective, XRP continues to move within a descending corrective channel after climbing from roughly $1.02 to $1.18 earlier this month. Holding above the $1.12 support zone could keep attention on resistance near $1.15 and the recent high around $1.18, while a break below that level would expose the next support near the 50% Fibonacci retracement around $1.10.