TLDR
- XRP price climbed above $1.60, an eight-month high, before reaching $1.62.
- Cumulative XRP ETF inflows hit $1.73 billion as of September 22.
- XRP futures open interest topped $4.1 billion, overtaking Hyperliquid and Zcash.
- Whale transactions and new wallet creation both increased alongside the price move.
- Four major Canadian banks previously tested XRP for cross-border payments.
XRP price moved above $1.60 for the first time since February 4, according to data from Santiment. The coin later touched a high of $1.62 during the same trading session.
Santiment recorded 1,917 XRP transactions worth at least $100,000 each. The firm called this the strongest high-value activity in about a month.
These whale transactions do not confirm that large holders are building long-term positions. They do show that major holders are actively repositioning as the price rises.
Network growth also increased. Santiment reported 3,647 new XRP wallets, pointing to fresh participants joining the network.
$XRP BREAKS $1.60 WITH SERIOUS ACTIVITY BEHIND IT. 🔥
🐋 1,917 whale transactions over $100K
👛 3,647 new XRP wallets
📈 Strongest whale activity in roughly a monthPRICE, PARTICIPATION AND BIG MONEY ARE ALL HEATING UP. pic.twitter.com/Cj9zusGjtj
— XRP Update (@XrpUdate) September 23, 2026
The XRPL ecosystem has expanded too. Tokenized-asset and RLUSD balances recently reached about $4.26 billion, while Ripple separately reports around $2.4 billion of RLUSD in circulation.
ETF Inflows and Futures Market Activity
SoSoValue data shows cumulative net inflows into XRP ETFs reached $1.73 billion as of September 22. On that day alone, XRP spot ETFs recorded $20.02 million in net inflows, with Bitwise adding $19.16 million.
JUST IN: Bitwise and Franklin ETF clients buy a combined $18.04 million worth of $XRP. pic.twitter.com/yOd6WjPU0Y
— Whale Insider (@WhaleInsider) September 24, 2026
Daily flows have been mixed. ETFs saw no net inflow on September 21, a $43.70 million outflow on September 18, and a $5.15 million outflow on September 17. September 16 brought $3.50 million in inflows.
Bitwise also filed an updated XRP ETF registration with the SEC on September 18.
Separately, XRP futures open interest climbed to $4.1 billion over 24 hours, a nine-month high. This moved XRP ahead of Hyperliquid and Zcash in futures open interest, according to Coinglass.
Futures volume across derivatives exchanges reached $9.4 billion, compared to $2.2 billion in spot volume. CME futures open interest rose more than 16% in 24 hours to $756 million. Binance futures open interest rose 10% to almost $700 million.
XRP recorded more than $17 billion in total liquidations over 24 hours, ranking behind only Bitcoin and Ethereum. Traders closed $9.50 million in short positions, including a single $5.09 million XRPUSDT liquidation on Binance.
Analyst MikybullCrypto pointed to the price action on X, writing that XRP could see a 51% pump following the recent breakout.
Expect a 51% pump as a result of this breakout https://t.co/u2dBK4jSwL pic.twitter.com/Sb2uOn3D9E
— MikybullCrypto (@MikybullCrypto) September 23, 2026
Peter Brandt has also weighed in with a longer-term forecast. He predicted XRP could rally to $5.40, with his chart suggesting a break above $5 by next year.
Canadian Bank Testing and Broader Market Conditions
Four of Canada’s six biggest banks previously tested XRP for interbank cross-border payments in 2016. The banks named are Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal, CIBC, and Scotiabank.
All six of Canada’s largest banks have since launched a joint tokenized-deposit project for blockchain payments. The first phase moves tokenized Canadian dollar deposits between the six banks, with a second phase planned to connect the system to other digital asset networks.
The technology behind this new project has not been named, so it should not be described as Canada choosing XRP specifically.
The broader crypto market also recovered during the same period. Trump confirmed a meeting with Iran during the UN General Assembly, which helped lift Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and other altcoins.
XRP’s move follows a period of deleveraging in mid-September tied to the CLARITY Act vote, with price recovering from $1.30 to the $1.62 high.
