Bitcoin, ether and many other tokens have pulled back sharply from their 2025 peaks, yet remain far above their 2017 highs.
Too many coins
Analysts point first to $XRP’s supply.
“Circulating supply grew 63%, from 38.7B in 2017 to 63.1B, while $XRP‘s total market value fell only about 3%,” Nicolai Sondergaard, senior research analyst at analytics firm Nansen, told CoinDesk. “More $XRP in circulation means each token represents a smaller share of roughly the same total value.”
Circulating supply is the number of coins on the market, and as it grows, each coin represents a smaller share of the total.
Oliver Carding, head of marketing at Tesseract Group, says $XRP looks better when measured by total value instead of price.
“On value, $XRP recovered,” he said. “About 63% more $XRP is in circulation than at that peak, so the same circulating market capitalization would mean a price roughly 39% lower.”
Tesseract is an institutional digital asset management firm that manages over $500 million in assets under management.
Weaker demand
U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, have opened the door for institutional investors to take exposure to digital assets. While bitcoin and ether funds have pulled in billions, $XRP funds have lagged big time.
“ETF uptake has also been muted relative to $BTC and $ETH,” said Paul Howard, senior director at market-making firm Wincent.
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