According to Teddy Fusaro, President of Bitwise Asset Management, trading activity in the Bitwise ETF for $XRP sharply accelerated over the three sessions ending August 24. This three-day period became the most active for the fund since trading began in November 2025 and coincided with $XRP's sharp price recovery in August.
Fusaro wrote on X:
"Bitwise $XRP ETF trading volumes have really taken off over the last 3 sessions. Today traded over $80 million, and each of the two previous days traded over $60 million; each of those days would have been the highest volume day since the fund's launch."
The total trading volume over these three sessions amounted to over $200 million. The cited figures reflect secondary market turnover, not net fund inflows.
The record volumes followed a sharp recovery in the $XRP price, which, according to Bitwise, led to the fund's net asset value rising to $15.36 on August 20, corresponding to an 11.71% gain. Cryptocurrency prices moved upward after the U.S. Treasury Department stated on August 19 that it would at least double the size of its long-term bond buyback operations to $4 billion per operation starting September 9.
Official Bitwise data shows that as of August 23, the $XRP fund held approximately 328.2 million $XRP valued at $484.6 million. The fund's net assets were about $484.5 million, shares outstanding were 29.38 million, and the expense ratio was 0.34%. Trading volume reflects the value of fund shares exchanged during a session, not capital flowing into the product. Record turnover may reflect the buying and selling of shares among existing holders, without creating any new shares or acquiring any additional tokens.
Does ETF Demand Offset $XRP's Growing Supply?
Active trading says nothing about a separate challenge the token faces, namely whether buyers can absorb the $XRP entering circulation. According to 21Shares, $XRP's circulating supply grew by 5.5% year-over-year due to releases from escrow accounts. In the first half of 2026, U.S. spot market exchange-traded products for $XRP absorbed 14.8% of this increase. The company estimates their annualized inflow rate equated to roughly one-seventh of the net annual supply growth.
Demand could also come from software that spends money on an owner's behalf within budgets, merchant limits, and approval rules set by the user. T54 co-founder Chandler Fang has argued that AI agents might choose XRPL as a settlement infrastructure, even if users don't directly select the network. He emphasized useful economic activity, not just transaction counts.
Another avenue is institutional payments, though digital assets are barely reflected in the flows Ripple has already attracted. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that companies joined Ripple through acquisitions process roughly $16 trillion in annual payments and clearing, while digital assets account for "close to zero percent" of that volume.
How the Bitwise $XRP ETF Works
Bitwise launched the $XRP fund in November 2025, providing investors access to $XRP through traditional brokerage accounts. The product trades under the ticker $XRP on the NYSE Arca exchange, with the underlying digital asset custodied via Coinbase Custody Trust Co.
$XRP serves as the native digital asset of the public $XRP Ledger, which supports payments, asset exchange, and tokenization. The $XRP Ledger uses validators instead of proof-of-work mining to confirm transactions and update its distributed ledger.
The shares represent a proportional interest in the $XRP held by the trust, minus operating expenses and liabilities. The fund's prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission states that authorized participants issue or redeem shares in blocks of 10,000.
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