Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen transferred 50 million XRP (valued at $175 million) to exchanges between July 17-24, 2025, triggering concerns about potential sell pressure given his remaining 2.58 billion XRP holdings worth $8.83 billion. CryptoQuant analyst J.A. Maartunn warned this could be a "warm-up" for larger dumps, urging traders to "protect yourself" against becoming exit liquidity. XRP subsequently dropped 13% to $3.18 amid broader market volatility, including Bitcoin's plunge after a dormant Satoshi-era wallet moved 80,000 BTC.
Contrastingly, analysts like Dark Defender refuted panic, citing historical precedent: Jed McCaleb's 2020 sale of 266 million XRP ($148 million then, ~$940 million today) didn't impede XRP's long-term growth. Larsen's transfers align with patterns from previous bull runs, including a $344 million XRP move in January 2025. Meanwhile, whale wallets accumulated 130+ million XRP during the dip, and technical analysis identified strong support at $3.00 with a potential rebound target of $3.82. XRP perpetual futures open interest simultaneously hit a record $8.8 billion, signaling persistent leveraged bullish sentiment despite the uncertainty.