The number of XRP holders has nearly doubled between October 2024 and May 2025, expanding from 1.29% to 2.42%, while Solana (SOL) experienced the opposite, falling 35% from 2.72% to 1.76%.
According to Bybit’s “H1 2025 asset allocation report,” the rebalancing stems from a shift in sentiment as both retail and institutional investors have begun to favor XRP over Solana.
XRP has gained momentum in recent months as its years-long legal battle with the SEC comes to a close, setting the stage for a potential spot exchange-traded fund tied to Ripple’s token.
The sentiment shift has propelled XRP to the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap after Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). It overtook Solana in November 2024.
In January, XRP allocations registered the largest percentage of the period, representing 5% of the total. In the same month, the token touched $3.31, its highest price since the all-time high registered on January 7, 2018.
ETF expectations drove the pivot
The report linked the allocation swing to exchange-traded fund (ETF) expectations, noting that Polymarket traders assign a 90% probability of approval by year-end 2025.
It added that the redirection of SOL exposure to XRP was not a move made only by retail investors, as institutions also made the same decision during the first half of the year.
The study covered active traders between October 2024 and May 2025. Active traders were those who executed at least 20 transactions per month.
Additionally, the report classified participants into institutional, VIP, and general retail tiers to track wallet behavior across market segments.
Bitcoin and Ethereum still reign
Stablecoin allocations also declined in May, as users allocated fresh capital to Bitcoin and Ethereum. Yet, XRP maintained its expanded share.
The report highlighted that Bitcoin controlled nearly 31% of assets, while BTC and ETH combined reached 58.8% of non-stablecoin holdings during the same month.
XRP’s advancement, coupled with Solana’s retreat, caps a period in which altcoins overall ceded ground to Bitcoin. Altcoin share peaked at 35.22% in November 2024 before easing to 23.46% in May 2025, the same month that Bitcoin registered its latest all-time high.
Lastly, traders pulled stablecoin balances off the sidelines and redeployed them into BTC and ETH in May.
Institutional accounts cut their stablecoin share by 14% from April, steering roughly 6% each to Bitcoin and Ether and one point to Solana, with smaller flows rounding out the remainder.
This movement reversed the defensive build-up that followed earlier market dips.
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