An XRP spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) recorded net inflows of $17.11 million on April 15, local time. It was the second-largest daily inflow since listing.

CoinPost, a blockchain media outlet, reported on April 17 that cumulative inflows into the ETF product rose to $1.25 billion.

The inflows were shared among major XRP spot ETFs. Bitwise's XRP product took in $6.23 million, while Franklin's XRPZ drew $5.30 million. SoSoValue data show the biggest inflow day so far was Feb. 3, when net inflows totalled $19.46 million. The latest figure ranks second.

Market prices moved in the same direction. XRP rose about 6 percent over the past week. Over the same period, bitcoin gained 2.7 percent and ethereum rose 4.6 percent. XRP also posted the strongest performance over the past 24 hours among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation.

A return of institutional investors was cited as a factor behind the bigger inflows. As prices of major assets stabilise, market participants are increasing their exposure to risk assets again. An analysis said easing geopolitical risks and a broader shift into risk assets were also reflected in XRP.

There was also a move to broaden XRP's demand base. Japan's e-commerce company Rakuten Wallet began spot trading services in five tokens including XRP from April 15. As a result, some Rakuten Pay users can top up Rakuten Cash, an electronic money service, with their XRP and use it for payments at more than 5 million merchants nationwide.

Tokens included in the payment integration are dogecoin, stellar lumens, shiba inu and toncoin, in addition to XRP. Rakuten Group has a base of more than 44 million Rakuten Pay users, drawing attention to the possibility that real-world payment use of cryptocurrencies could expand.

Tatsuya Korogi (타츠야 코로기), a manager for growth in the Ripple ecosystem, called XRP's Rakuten integration this week a "historic turning point." He also underscored that it created a route for the cumulative value of 3 trillion points issued by Rakuten, worth 3.6 trillion yen, or about 33.4 trillion won, to flow into the cryptocurrency market.

Against this backdrop, the XRP market is seeing ETF inflows and expanding payment use at the same time. The ETF posted its second-largest inflow since listing, and payment integration with a large consumer platform began in Japan. Future XRP price moves are expected to hinge on whether more funds flow into spot ETFs and how much actual payment demand expands within the Rakuten ecosystem.