The XRP Ledger processed significantly more XRP through its order books in the second quarter despite having far fewer active trading accounts than a year earlier. Daily order-book traders dropped roughly 40%, while trading volume increased 79% and the value held on the network rose above $4 billion.
Average daily order-book volume reached 3.57 million XRP in Q2, up from the previous year’s level. However, the number of accounts responsible for those trades fell to around 1,100 per day, compared with more than 1,860 a year earlier.
With fewer accounts participating, the average amount traded per account climbed to about 3,200 XRP a day, nearly three times the 1,070 XRP recorded in the same period last year. The figures were included in a quarterly report from Evernorth, an XRP-focused treasury company planning a Nasdaq listing.
Still, the number of accounts cannot be directly equated with the number of traders. A single institution can operate multiple accounts, while individual users may also have several. The data therefore does not establish whether institutional investors are replacing retail participants, but it does suggest that trading activity is increasingly concentrated among a smaller group of accounts.
The number of assets traded against XRP through the order book also declined. Daily pairs fell to roughly 319 from 480 a year earlier, marking an 18% annual decline and the lowest figure recorded over the six quarters examined.
Order books also accounted for a larger portion of trading on the XRP Ledger’s decentralized exchange. Their share rose to 81% of DEX activity from 54% a year earlier. Unlike centralized platforms such as Coinbase and Binance, the DEX allows users to execute trades directly through the ledger.
Total DEX volume averaged 4.42 million XRP per day during the quarter. That was approximately 20% higher than a year earlier, although it remained 16% below Q1 2026.
Value Held on XRPL Climbs
While user activity weakened, the amount of value represented on the XRP Ledger expanded rapidly.
Tokenized assets averaged $3.72 billion during Q2, more than twice the first-quarter figure and over 30 times higher than a year earlier. When average RLUSD balances of $539 million are included, the total value held on the network reached about $4.26 billion.
The comparable figure six quarters earlier was only $99 million.
RLUSD was a major contributor to that expansion. Average RLUSD supply on the XRP Ledger climbed from $73 million to $539 million year over year, an increase of more than 600%. The value of RLUSD transfers also jumped more than ninefold, increasing the ledger’s share of total RLUSD circulation from 20% to 34%.
The increase in network value came despite a decline in overall account activity.
Daily transacting accounts averaged approximately 16,600 in Q2, down 24% from the previous year. New account creation also declined by about 25%, reaching roughly 2,800 accounts per day.
The weaker activity reflected a broader slowdown across the cryptocurrency market. Onchain exchange volume across the industry dropped 46% year over year, while transaction fees across seven leading programmable blockchains fell 38%.
XRPL Builds for Institutional Demand
The changing activity mix comes as the XRP Ledger adds infrastructure intended to support larger financial transactions and institutional use cases.
In May, a portion of a tokenized U.S. Treasury fund was redeemed, with the asset side of the transaction settling on XRPL in less than five seconds. During the quarter, permissioned domains were upgraded, giving institutions greater control over participation in specific markets. The network’s multi-purpose token functionality was also enhanced.
Proposed privacy improvements reported by CoinDesk in August could give tokenized assets additional confidentiality. Under the proposed changes, balances and transfers could remain private while issuers, auditors and regulators retain selective access to relevant information.
The ledger’s Ethereum-compatible sidechain also shifted to actively maintained software during the quarter, while RLUSD continued expanding to other blockchain networks.
Institutional exposure to XRP is also growing through U.S. spot XRP ETFs. The funds attracted $273 million during Q2 and posted net inflows in each month of the quarter, providing institutions with a way to gain XRP exposure without directly holding the cryptocurrency.
Regulatory developments could further shape that institutional market. The CLARITY Act, which aims to clarify whether assets such as XRP fall under the SEC or CFTC, passed the Senate Banking Committee on May 14.
