In a new video titled \u201cWhy Aren\u2019t Institutions Adopting XRP Massively?,\u201d Jake Claver, founder and CEO of Digital Ascension Group, argues that the absence of headline-grabbing institutional flows into XRP has less to do with the asset\u2019s technical fitness and more to do with regulatory, operational and coordination realities that govern how large financial entities deploy new market infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Claver frames the paradox succinctly: XRP\u2019s performance characteristics are, in his view, tailor-made for modern payments, yet banks remain publicly cautious. \u201cXRP could solve banks biggest problems\u2026 it\u2019s faster, it\u2019s cheaper, and it\u2019s a lot more reliable than Swift,\u201d he says, before posing the central question: \u201cWhy aren\u2019t they adopting it yet?\u201d His answer is not that institutions are uninterested, but that their playbook prizes legal certainty, timing and stealthy execution over visible, price-moving buys.<\/p>\n
A core pillar of his thesis<\/a> is that institutions, when they do build positions, typically do so through execution algorithms and off-exchange channels designed to minimize market impact. \u201cThey\u2019re using T-W and VWAP<\/a> strategies,\u201d he says, referring to time-weighted and volume-weighted average price execution. In practice, he adds, that means mandates along the lines of \u201c\u2018I\u2019ve got $100 million. I want to buy XRP\u2026 I\u2019ll just average into the market over a month, two months, 6 months.\u2019\u201d The point, according to Claver, is to accumulate size \u201cwithout causing those big price spikes,\u201d often by relying on algorithmic execution, OTC desks<\/a> or dark pools rather than simply sweeping public order books. Retail investors, he notes, rarely see this flow because it is engineered not to be seen.<\/p>\n Regulation is the second pillar. Claver contends that global institutions cannot anchor a \u201ctrillion dollar payment infrastructure on uncertain legal foundations or tax foundations.\u201d He points to the July 13, 2023 ruling in the SEC\u2019s case <\/a>against Ripple, saying Judge Analisa Torres \u201cstated that XRP in and of itself is not a security,\u201d and argues that the combination of court developments and a changing US regulatory posture has begun to thaw institutional reluctance. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing the transition from apprehensions\u2026 to okay, maybe this stuff will actually work,\u201d he says, while also cautioning that lingering case milestones and appellate formalities still matter for the largest issuers and product sponsors.<\/p>\n Claver repeatedly emphasizes that institutions are relatively indifferent to the exact price level at which they obtain exposure if they are convinced of the strategic direction. \u201cThey\u2019re perfectly happy to be buying XRP at $100, $1,000, or even $10,000 because they know that it\u2019s going to be going higher,\u201d he claims, drawing an analogy to Bitcoin, where \u201cinstitutions didn\u2019t start buying and aggregating Bitcoin till it was $30,000, $40,000, $50,000,\u201d and noting that \u201cMicroStrategy<\/a> at $72,000 per Bitcoin is their average buy.\u201d The contention, controversial as it may be, is that sophisticated buyers optimize for timing, liquidity and coordination, not for nailing the bottom tick.<\/p>\n In the near term, he argues, episodic price spikes tied to headlines remain \u201cspeculative,\u201d precisely because retail \u201cdoesn\u2019t have the capital\u201d or the \u201ccoordination to maintain the level of volume that would be needed for high prices.\u201d Sustained re-rating, in his telling, requires institutional catalysts: regulatory green lights, product launches and real-world usage. \u201cWe need catalysts. We need real-world adoption and a crisis, I think a liquidity crisis, for them to actually pull this into vogue,\u201d he says, describing a potential \u201csupply shock\u201d in XRP as the kind of event that could force rapid repricing.<\/p>\nWhat To Watch In The Coming Months<\/h2>\n