XRP is “a winner among altcoins” according to a new report — with institutional and retail investors “turning bullish” towards the world’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency.
Bybit says the number of users holding this altcoin on its exchange doubled between November and May as prices surged.
Over this period, prices accelerated from $0.50 to $2.19 — a staggering 338% increase — as tensions between the SEC and XRP’s issuer Ripple died down.
Another key moment came when Donald Trump declared this token would form part of a U.S. crypto reserve, but those plans didn’t end up materializing.
And if that isn’t enough, Polymarket suggests there’s an 85% chance of an XRP ETF being approved some time this year, which would likely lead to billions of dollars of buying pressure as funds flow into Wall Street products.
Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart recently argued the likelihood is even greater than this — putting the odds at 95%.
In the report — Bybit noted that the holding percentage of XRP jumped from 1.29% to 2.42% in just six months, adding:
“The crypto investing industry view is that Ripple spot ETF approval is likely ahead of such approval for a Solana spot ETF. As such, weʼve observed partial capital allocation on the part of institutions from SOL to XRP.”
However, Bybit noted that BTC remains the most popular digital asset for crypto investors by a country mile — and among the exchange’s users, 30.95% of assets are allocated into the world’s biggest cryptocurrency.
Other key trends include a substantial surge in demand for Ether. A low holding percentage of 3.89% was recorded in April 2025, but that had more than doubled to 8.43% just one month later. However, the report’s authors noted that this remains well below a peak of 11.12% seen last November.
And here’s another key headline: enthusiasm for Solana has fallen dramatically, with SOL’s percentage plummeting by 35% in just six months. This is undoubtedly linked to a huge bubble bursting in the meme coin market.
The Bybit report — which covers the period when the trading platform fell victim to an audacious $1.5 billion attack at the hands of North Korean hackers — said:
“BTC and ETH concentration started at 55.2% in October 2024, fell to a low of 48.2% in February 2025 and has newly recovered to 58.8% as of May 2025. Despite the weak demand for ETH in Q1 2025, BTC and ETH concentration continued to grow in the same period, pointing to a resilient demand for Bitcoin from investors, despite market volatility.”
One statistic puts Bitcoin’s popularity into sharp context: for every $1 in ETH that an investor holds on Bybit, they’re likely to have $4 of BTC in their wallet. This marries up nicely with CoinMarketCap data that shows Bitcoin’s dominance has grown from 53.2% to 64% over the past 12 months, with Ether’s market share halving from 18% to 9% in the same timeframe.
Image: CoinMarketCapThere are also signs of a clear divide between the strategies deployed by everyday consumers and professional investors.
“As of May 2025, retail traders continue to hold significantly less Bitcoin and Ether than institutions, with BTC and ETH holding percentage standing at 11.64% and 6.8%, respectively. Retail tradersʼ holdings in Bitcoin and Ether are around half that of institutions throughout this period.”
This perhaps isn’t surprising. Retail investors are likelier to be more adventurous with their exposure to altcoins, but strict regulations mean institutions are limited when it comes to what they can invest in. Another potential narrative is this: smart money is embracing Bitcoin, but the public is yet to notice.
What’s more, there are statistics to support the notion that the traditional “altseason” has been cancelled — or at least delayed. The holding percentage of smaller cryptocurrencies crumbled from 35.2% in November to 23.5% in May, “but meme coins, Layer 1s and DeFi tokens have held up better than other categories.” The same couldn’t be said for AI tokens and Bitcoin Layer 2s, as well as the GameFi and NFT sectors.
“When the broader market reaches a new high (as it did in November 2024, it usually points to the arrival of altcoin season. However, when Bitcoin reached another ATH in May 2025, altcoins didnʼt follow suit, suggesting that the May bull run hasnʼt led to broader bullish sentiment.”
Bybit’s report neatly encapsulates the main themes of 2025 so far — and could give us an indication as to what lies ahead in the rest of the year.
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