CryptoQuant data reveals a significant increase in XRP withdrawal transactions on the Binance platform since late February. This trend closely aligns with the period when cumulative inflows into spot XRP ETFs surpassed $1.4 billion.
From February 1st to February 19th, the average daily XRP withdrawal transaction volume remained stable between 359 and 2,500, consistent with historical norms. However, February 21st saw the first notable surge, with daily transaction volume soaring to approximately 10,000, breaking the previous stable trend. This was followed by a new high of approximately 14,000 transactions on February 25th, and a peak of nearly 17,500 transactions on February 27th. In early March, a second peak of approximately 14,000 transactions occurred between March 5th and 6th, before gradually declining.
During the same period, the price of XRP fluctuated between $1.34 and $1.60, without showing a clear upward or downward trend that perfectly synchronized with the withdrawal peaks. This suggests that the withdrawals were not driven by short-term price fluctuations but were closely related to the pace of ETF inflows.
The spot XRP ETF officially launched in November 2025 and has attracted approximately $1.4 billion in net inflows in just nine trading days. It is important to note that the XRP purchased by ETF issuers to meet share creation demands is not stored on centralized exchanges like Binance for long. Instead, it is quickly transferred to regulated, institutional-grade cold wallet custody systems. This transfer process is recorded as a withdrawal transaction on the XRP blockchain. Therefore, the recent surge in transaction volume is likely a chain reaction triggered by ETF custody migration.
Using the baseline of 359 transactions per day in early February as a reference, the subsequent peak transaction volume increased by as much as 28 to 49 times. Such a dramatic change is almost impossible to explain by the independent transfer behavior of ordinary retail investors. It undoubtedly indicates systematic position adjustments by institutional-level capital.
Furthermore, the withdrawal of funds from exchanges typically means a reduction in the immediately tradable liquidity in the market, thereby increasing the asset's sensitivity to new demand. A similar phenomenon has been observed in Ethereum (ETH)—when exchange reserves decrease, the market is more likely to experience price jumps due to buying pressure. XRP's current trend may be entering a phase dominated by the same mechanism.
Notably, a Swiss crypto bank has become the first to connect to the EU's blockchain transaction system, becoming the first blockchain asset custodian operating within the EU regulatory framework. This provides infrastructure support for more compliant funds to flow into XRP ETFs in the future.