The XRP Ledger recorded an unusual split in the second quarter of 2026: far fewer accounts were trading, but the accounts that remained were moving substantially more XRP.
Daily accounts initiating trades on XRPL’s order book fell from 1,864 in Q2 2025 to 1,111 in Q2 2026, a decline of roughly 40%. Yet average order-book volume moved in the opposite direction, jumping 79% year over year from about 1.99 million XRP to 3.57 million XRP per day, according to Evernorth’s Q2 XRP Liquidity Report.
Each Active Account Is Trading Nearly 3x More XRP
| Metric | Q2 2025 | Q2 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily order-book traders | 1,864 | 1,111 | -40% |
| Daily order-book volume | 1.99M XRP | 3.57M XRP | +79% |
| XRP traded per active account | 1,072 | 3,217 | ~3x |
| Order-book share of DEX volume | 54% | 81% | +27 pts |
| Daily transacting accounts | ~21,800 | ~16,600 | -24% |
The simplest explanation for the divergence is trade size.
Average order-book activity per participating account rose from 1,072 XRP per day to 3,217 XRP, meaning the average active account traded roughly three times as much as a year earlier.
Order books also accounted for 81% of XRPL decentralized exchange volume, compared with 54% a year earlier. Total DEX volume averaged 4.42 million XRP per day, around 20% higher year over year, although it declined 16% from the unusually strong first quarter.
That fits with a broader shift toward larger-value activity. XRP Ledger has seen rapid growth in tokenized Treasuries, while institutional-grade financial products increasingly use the network for settlement and liquidity.
However, the data cannot prove that institutions are replacing retail traders. One institution can control multiple accounts, while one individual can also use several addresses.
More Money Is Sitting on XRPL
The concentration becomes more interesting when compared with the amount of value moving onto the network.
Tokenized assets averaged approximately $3.72 billion during Q2, more than 30 times their level a year earlier. Average RLUSD balances reached another $539 million, up from $73 million, bringing combined value held on XRPL to roughly $4.26 billion.
That growth follows a broader expansion in RLUSD activity and real-world assets on the ledger.
At the same time, participation weakened. Daily transacting accounts fell about 24% YoY to 16,600, while new accounts dropped roughly 25% to 2,800 per day.
Bigger Trades Do Not Necessarily Mean More Users
The takeaway is therefore not that XRPL suddenly has more traders.
Instead, liquidity is becoming concentrated among fewer, larger accounts while substantially more financial value sits on the network.
That distinction matters as XRPL develops from a payments-focused blockchain into infrastructure for institutional assets, stablecoins and tokenized securities.
