Ripple Moves 150 Million XRP, Fueling An 11% Price Surge

With a huge 150 million XRP transfer to an unknown wallet, Ripple Labs has rocked the crypto scene. Based on on-chain tracker Whale Alert, the transaction—worth more than $85 million—has left many in the crypto community guessing about Ripple’s gameplan.

Ripple has been sending XRP into this wallet before, which begs questions about what the payment behemoth would do going forward.

That is quite timely, considering rumors about an XRP Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) are rife. The recent announcement by Grayscale XRP Trust increased the possibility of XRP emulating Bitcoin and Ethereum in getting an ETF listing. The fact that Ripple is still in a continuous legal fight with the Securities and Exchange Commission further shrouds this issue in mystery as investors await the next developments.

150,000,000 #XRP (85,383,318 USD) transferred from #Ripple to unknown wallethttps://t.co/uwRDwlk3LS

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) September 13, 2024

According to Whale Alert data, this mysterious wallet has been receiving XRP from Ripple quite regularly since October 2023. There were some inflows and partial outflows in that account during September also.

The most recent transaction is 12.08 million XRP on September 12. Before that, on September 10, there was an outflow of 40 million XRP from the account. Most interestingly, the wallet also received 200 million XRP in August, therefore increasing its already massive stash.

The regular transfer of XRP into and out of this wallet has resulted in various hypotheses among XRP proponents. While some say the wallet belongs to an institutional investor, others suspect it’s Ripple consolidating money in preparation for a major announcement.

Another often accepted belief is that this wallet might be used for cold storage, a preventive action to protect significant XRP quantities.

Driven by Grayscale’s release of its XRP Trust, the move coincides with growing interest about an XRP ETF. An XRP ETF might materialize in the next eight months, according to industry analysts. Should it occur, Ripple and its native token would reach a significant turning point. But the result of Ripple’s legal fight with the SEC might affect the chronology for such innovations.

Where Ripple has already scored a partial victory in the dispute against the SEC, the latter has its window till 6th October to file its appeal, and so there is still uncertainty. The case is under close observation from the investors as a favorable outcome would pave the way for more institutional investments, which may even push up the XRP price.

The concept of an XRP ETF has helped the market react favorably despite legal impediments. With XRP trading at $0.5612, the price surged by nearly 4% after Grayscale’s statement. This price spurt shows increasing faith in Ripple’s capacity to overcome obstacles amid regulatory pressures.

XRP’s price has risen 11% over the past week; trade volumes have surged to $980 million. Its market capitalization, which indicates great interest from institutional and ordinary investors, is getting near $30 billion. Many people are asking if Ripple is preparing for a big action given the recent 150 million XRP transfer adds to the mystery.

Featured image from CPO Magazine, chart from TradingView