In a recent video, Nick from NCash contemplated that 2026 marks a turning point for XRP and the broader digital asset market, claiming “everything has changed” as speculative trading gives way to institutional infrastructure.
The centerpiece of the thesis: XRP Ledger (XRPL) transactions have surged to nearly 3 million per day this week, up from about 1 million per day in mid‑2025, despite what the analyst describes as a “bad” market with limited retail participation.
XRP Ledger Activity Surges Amid Institutional Push
Citing data shared by Evernorth on March 3, the analyst highlights the jump in XRP transactions to almost 3 million per day and questions where that activity is coming from if retail interest has faded since early 2025’s peak.
The implied answer is institutional usage: Evernorth positions itself as the “largest XRP Treasury company,” aiming to scale institutional adoption of the XRPL and XRP, and announced in October 2025 that it was going public with over $1 billion in gross proceeds.
Ripple’s own messaging is used to reinforce this point.
The analyst points to Ripple posts from February 5, 2026 and earlier material from 2021 and 2025 focused on “institutional DeFi” and “scaling real-world finance with XRP at the core.”
Ripple’s main site, they note, now explicitly pitches itself as a way for financial institutions to “modernize your financial infrastructure” by integrating blockchain and digital assets in a “simple, secure, compliant way.”
Nick also argues that XRP is being positioned as “the backbone” of a new blockchain-based financial infrastructure, supported by a stream of amendments on XRPL, including lending protocols, permissioned domains, updates to the DEX, confidential transfers, and credential features.
XRP’s ‘Production Era’ & Institutional Plumbing
The video leans heavily on a narrative that crypto is exiting its speculative phase.
The analyst recalls saying as early as January 2024 that markets would shift away from hype-driven cycles, and claims that 2026 is the year this broader institutionalization becomes visible.
Nick references commentary around bitcoin spot ETFs, arguing that the key impact is reputational: traditional financial “giants coddling bitcoin” and treating crypto as a legitimate asset class.
The analyst cites Ripple President Monica Long’s January 20 and February 12 comments that crypto is entering its “production era” and that 2026 will see “institutionalization of crypto,” with the XRP Ledger becoming “the go-to blockchain for institutional DeFi.”
A February 2026 PowerPoint presentation titled “The Foundation of Institutionalization: Digital Asset Custody Landscape in Hong Kong,” produced by Ripple and Quinlan & Associates, is presented as further evidence.
According to Nick’s summary of a four-minute AI-narrated breakdown, the report says 77% of surveyed Hong Kong financial institutions are adopting or planning to adopt digital assets.
Around 65% reportedly prefer to outsource custody to third parties, exposing a gap between traditional banks’ regulatory strength and crypto-native firms’ tech capabilities.
The video highlights “multi‑custody orchestration” as a key solution: splitting cryptographic keys across multiple custodians so no single entity holds full control, while enabling large banks and specialized providers to share roles.
Nick from NCash links this to the rise of tokenized traditional assets—citing figures in the report that by 2025 tokenized assets reached a $35.7 billion market cap and stablecoins exceeded $300 billion—and frames ETFs as “training wheels” for institutions entering crypto without running full custody themselves.
Ultimately, he expects most users will not realize they are using crypto at all. Instead of asking for “500 XRP,” people will request $500 or a dollar stablecoin and receive it instantly and cheaply over blockchain rails.
In that view, this is the kind of invisible financial “plumbing” Ripple and XRPL are being built to power, and the recent spike in XRP transactions is an early sign that institutions are already moving assets on-chain.
For crypto holders, the blunt message is about positioning: if transaction growth is being driven by institutional finance rather than speculative retail trading, the long-term value drivers XRP’s growth could look very different from prior cycles.
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People Also Ask:
Why are XRP transactions rising if retail interest is down? The analyst attributes the increase to institutional activity on the XRPL, driven by firms like Evernorth and Ripple’s push into institutional DeFi and tokenization.
What does the Hong Kong report show about institutional crypto adoption? The Ripple–Quinlan & Associates report says 77% of Hong Kong financial institutions are adopting or planning to adopt digital assets, with most outsourcing custody to specialist providers.
How is Ripple positioning XRP in this new environment? Ripple is described as building “next‑generation blockchain-based financial infrastructure” with XRP as a core asset, targeting institutional payments, stablecoins, and tokenized real‑world assets on the XRPL.
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