Goldman Sachs was the largest disclosed institutional holder of XRP ETFs until December 31, 2025, according to Bloomberg Intelligence shared by ETF analyst James Seiffart, which provides one of the clearest pictures of what it bought in the market in its first months.
The filing also highlights a surprising point: Demand for the XRP ETF appears to have remained steady, even as the token plummeted after its launch. “The XRP ETFs have held up really well despite the massive price drop,” Seiffart said at X. “They’ve raised $1.4 billion since launch.”
This stability is important because the products are applied to a difficult tape, not a clean layer. A Bloomberg Intelligence chart shared by Seyfarth showed that cumulative XRP ETF flows rose from about $150 million on November 13, 2025 to $1.44 billion between March 4, 2026, with the sharpest growth occurring in the weeks after mid-November.
Who Buys Spot XRP ETF?
It is more difficult to determine who was behind these movements. As Seiffart noted, “We only know a small fraction of them because most of them don’t file 13Fs. But here are the holders through 12/31/2025.” This warning is important. 13F disclosures cover only a slice of the market, meaning the list reflects the disclosed institutional position rather than the full ownership base.
However, revealed holders present a clear hierarchy. Goldman Sachs topped the list with its $153.8 million XRP ETF, which equates to 83.6 million XRP. Millennium Management reached $23.1 million or 12.5 million XRP. Logan Stone Capital, Citadel Advisors and Jain Global rounded out the top tier, each with positions between $4 million and $5.3 million. Other disclosed holders included Marex Group, Jane Street, DRW Securities, Flow Traders, Wedbush Securities and several registered advisory firms.
But the broader mix of ownership suggests that XRP ETFs weren’t quite the institutional story that some other crypto products have been. A cross-asset comparison by Bloomberg Intelligence found XRP ETFs with 83 disclosed 13F holders and $1.342 billion in assets under management, but only 15.9% of that AUM was linked to a 13F filing. This contrasts with Solana ETFs, which have 48.8% of AUM from 13F filings, and even Bitcoin and Ethereum at 24.1% and 27.2%, respectively.
Seyfarth made this point bluntly, saying that the four groups of scrip ETFs represent different buyer profiles and that “SOL & XRP are still the newest, but XRP ETFs are being driven heavily by retail demand.”
Eric Balchunas, Seyfarth’s colleague at Bloomberg Intelligence, described the flow in behavioral terms. “Like Solana, it’s really impressive because they started a brutal 45% decline,” he said. “Typically, the inflows for ETFs have the opposite momentum of a shiny object, and especially if they’re new. I think it’s mostly XRP super fans and casual retail.”
This interpretation corresponds to the numbers. XRP ETFs have slightly more 13F disclosures than Solana ETFs, 83 versus 85, but a much lower institutional share of assets. In other words, the institutions appeared, and Goldman appeared in volume, but the core of the flow story seems to have been retail belief, not traditional distributors building large exposed positions.
At press time, XRP was trading at $1.38.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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