The number of XRP whales, entities holding at least 10 million tokens of the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has hit a new all-time high shortly before the network snapshot for Flare’s Spark token airdrop.
According to on-chain data firm Santiment there are now 339 XRP addresses with over 10 million tokens in them. The amount is, at press time, worth close to $55 million as each token is trading at about $0.544 according to CryptoCompare data.
As CryptoGlobe reported, the price of XRP surged weeks before the upcoming Spark token airdrop, rising to a high of $0.75 before enduring a correction, along with the rest of the crypto market. The Spark token airdrop, it’s worth noting, will airdrop SPARK to XRP holders at a 1:1 ratio.
Spark tokens will be used for governance on the Flare network through voting mechanisms, and token holders will be able to earn a return on their holdings by committing Spark tokens as collateral to secure the trustless issuance and redemption of FXRP, a protocol built to “safely enable the trustless issuance, usage and redemption, of XRP on Flare.”
Token holders will also be able to earn a return on their holdings by contributing data to the Flare time series oracle. The Flare Network itself integrates the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and does not derive safety from a token.
It will essentially bring Ethereum’s decentralized applications, smart contracts, and decentralized finance into the XRP ecosystem. It’s supported by Ripple’s investment arm RippleX, formerly Xpring. XRP holders can receive tokens either through self-custody, or by storing them in exchanges that support the airdrop.
Most top cryptocurrency exchanges, including OKEx, Binance, Coinbase, and others, support the airdrop. The network snapshot will be taken on December 12.
Notably, data also shows that the number of bitcoin whales also hit a new all-time high last month, with entities holding at least 1,000 BTC closing in on the 2,000 mark. Growing whale numbers could be related to increasing corporate adoption of cryptoassets.
Featured image via Pixabay.
