Why XRP Is the Only Major Crypto With Rising Sentiment Right Now

XRP is posting its highest level of bullish social sentiment in five weeks, even as Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to attract negative attention from traders and investors. According to data from Santiment, positive chatter around XRP is climbing while the two largest crypto assets by market cap see fading enthusiasm across social media and trading forums. 

The divergence is backed by real capital flows, with XRP pulling in roughly $150 million in fresh institutional investment this year, according to a CoinShares report.

What Is Driving XRP's Sentiment Surge?

The mood shift around XRP is not happening in a vacuum. Several concrete developments are feeding into it, from new lending utility to infrastructure upgrades on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and an expanding institutional product stack from Ripple.

CoinShares data shows that digital asset investment products saw a fourth consecutive week of outflows totalling $173 million, bringing the cumulative four-week total to $3.74 billion. Bitcoin led the losses with $133 million in outflows. Ethereum followed with $85.1 million in outflows. XRP, by contrast, recorded $33.4 million in inflows during the same period, alongside Solana at $31 million and Chainlink at $1.1 million.

The Broader Market Context

The wider crypto market is in a cautious, risk-off phase. U.S.-based investors accounted for $403 million in outflows, while the rest of the world recorded $230 million in inflows, with Germany leading at $115 million, Canada at $46.3 million, and Switzerland at $36.8 million. ETP trading volumes dropped sharply to $27 billion, down from a record $63 billion the prior week.

Short Bitcoin products also recorded $15.4 million in outflows over the past two weeks, a pattern that has historically appeared near market lows.

Why Are Bitcoin and Ethereum Losing Momentum?

Both assets are stuck in tight consolidation ranges. Bullish commentary has dropped noticeably from the prior week across social platforms and crypto communities, which are typically early signals of shifting retail sentiment. Without a clear catalyst such as macroeconomic clarity, fresh ETF inflows, or a confirmed technical breakout, speculative liquidity tends to thin out and cautious positioning takes over.

The current mood is less fearful and more fatigued. Traders are not panicking, but they are not accumulating aggressively either.

XRP is carving out higher lows in this environment, which is a technical chart pattern indicating that buyers are stepping in at progressively higher price levels during pullbacks. That kind of structure suggests demand is rebuilding rather than fading.

Coinbase Adds XRP as Loan Collateral

One of the clearest near-term catalysts for XRP came on February 18, when Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based crypto exchange, added XRP as eligible collateral for USDC loans of up to $100,000. DOGE, ADA, and LTC were also added in the same update.

The distinction between payment utility and collateral utility is worth unpacking here. In payment flows, tokens move quickly and holders do not necessarily need to hold large balances for long. As collateral, the dynamic changes.

When investors can borrow against their XRP rather than selling it to access liquidity, some of that supply gets locked in place. Borrowers who want to keep loans open are incentivized to maintain or even increase their collateral during volatile periods to avoid liquidation. That can create what market participants call stickier demand, where sell pressure is reduced because holders have a financial reason to keep their position open.

The mechanism cuts both ways, though. If prices fall sharply and collateral values drop quickly, forced liquidations can amplify downside moves.

What Is the XRPL Building for Institutions?

Beyond the Coinbase news, the XRP Ledger has been shipping infrastructure aimed at regulated market participants. Recent additions include Permissioned Domains and a credential-gated decentralized exchange (DEX), alongside tools like token escrow.

Permissioned Domains allow institutions to transact on-chain within defined compliance and access boundaries. A credential-gated DEX restricts participation to verified counterparties, which mirrors how traditional financial markets already segment access by venue, product type, and participant category.

This is a notably different approach from the open-access model associated with Ethereum-based DeFi. For a bank or asset manager that needs to map blockchain settlement to internal compliance controls and counterparty policies, a permissioned environment is a lower barrier to adoption.

The features are live, but the real test is uptake. Meaningful adoption would show up in measurable ways:

• Permissioned domains being launched at scale
• Sustained credential activity across the gated DEX
• Order-book liquidity that holds beyond pilot phases
• Market makers choosing to keep inventory on the ledger

If those metrics materialize, they strengthen the case for XRP as institutional market infrastructure, not just a payment token.

How Far Has Ripple's Institutional Stack Come?

Ripple has expanded well beyond its original cross-border payment product over the past year. Its current lineup includes Ripple Payments for settlement, Ripple Custody for asset safekeeping, and Ripple Prime, an institutional brokerage offering. The company is also active in treasury operations through a partnership with GTreasury.

Running through all of these products is RLUSD, Ripple's dollar-backed stablecoin, which is being positioned as both a settlement asset and collateral instrument across the ecosystem. Grayscale Investments has also noted that XRP is now the second most discussed crypto asset after Bitcoin, a sign of rising visibility among both retail and institutional audiences.

Ripple was also highlighted as a calibration tool in the Federal Reserve's latest crypto risk proposal, adding a layer of regulatory relevance that few other crypto firms can point to right now.

Conclusion

Social sentiment is one signal among many. A spike in bullish chatter can precede a price rally, but it can also reflect crowded positioning if expectations move faster than fundamentals. The current XRP sentiment reading is not euphoric, it is constructive, and it is backed by flow data, new utility, and infrastructure development rather than hype cycles alone.

The combination of Coinbase collateral support, XRPL's permissioned trading infrastructure, Ripple's growing institutional product suite, and $150 million in year-to-date inflows gives XRP a more concrete set of drivers than most assets currently riding sentiment waves.

Resources

1. Report by CoinShares: Volume 273: Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report

2. Santiment on X: Post on Feb. 19

3. Report by CryptoSlate: XRP sentiment hits a 5-week high as money rotates away from Bitcoin and Ethereum

4. Report by CoinDesk: XRP Ledger rolls out members-only DEX for regulated institutions

5. XRPL resources: About permissionless DEX

6. Coinbase on X: Post on Feb. 18

7. Report by Decrypt: Coinbase’s Crypto-Backed Lending Product Expands to XRP and DOGE