Large whales on the XRP Ledger have been heavily accumulating the network’s native cryptocurrency, with data showing that as the price of the XRP token rises, so do large whales’ holdings.
According to data from on-chain analytics firm Sentiment, as first pointed out by popular cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez, cryptocurrency whales with between 1 million and 10 million XRP tokens have accumulated more than 100 million tokens, worth over $240 million, when the token’s price saw a small dip.
Indeed, the firm’s data shows that addresses in this cohort heavily accumulated the cryptocurrency over the last few weeks, to now hold an estimated 4-79 billion XRP tokens, while addresses holding between 10 million and 100 million XRP tokens have, since the beginning of the year, steadily been adding more tokens, going from around 5.2 billion XRP to now have 6.91 billion tokens.
Santiment’s data further shows that addresses with between 1 million and 10 million tokens seemingly accumulated as addresses holding 100,000 to 1 million XRP dumped amid the cryptocurrency’s price rise, with the holders of the latter cohort dropping by roughly 200 million XRP over the cryptocurrency’s price rise.
XRP saw an astounding price rise over the past few months and is up more than 290% over the last 12-month period, going from around $0.62 to now stand at $2.46. While the cryptocurrency hasn’t yet hit a new all-time high, its recent rise surprised many in the cryptocurrency space and comes as various firms, including WisdomTree, file to list spot XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The SEC has yet to greenlight a spot XRP ETF, and the regulator has been in a legal battle with a major player in the XRP sector, Ripple, since 2020. The SEC has accused Ripple of raising $1.3 billion through XRP sales, deeming the token an unregistered security.
The cryptocurrency also recently saw a boost after Ripple secured approval for its RLUSD stablecoin with the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). XRP’s stellar performance can be traced back to multiple catalysts, that also include Republican candidate Donald Trump’s recent victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, which has bolstered expectations of a pro-crypto administration.
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