Whales Add 2.8% to Their XRP Stash While Minnows Flee the Pond 🐋

XRP has climbed more than 8% since late June, recovering to $1.16 from $1, as on-chain data reveals a sharp split between large and small holders of the payments-focused cryptocurrency. According to analytics platform Santiment, wallets holding between 100,000 and 100 million XRP increased their balances by 2.8% over the past five weeks, accumulating coins while the token rebounded.

Meanwhile, the smallest wallets have shed 5.2% of their holdings during the same period, according to Santiment. The diverging behavior between whales and sharks on one side and retail investors on the other has historically aligned with further price gains for XRP, the firm said.

"Historically, XRP price has tended to move more with key stakeholders and against the smallest retail wallets, so this split supports the bullish case behind the bounce," Santiment noted on X.

Santiment attributed the pattern to several fundamental developments for XRP, including improved institutional access through potential ETF products and continued utility on the XRP Ledger for payments, tokenization, and the RLUSD stablecoin. The firm said these developments have kept the asset in focus, likely reinforcing confidence among sophisticated investors even as casual holders step back.

The accumulation data was reported by Omkar Godbole and published on July 23, 2026.