XRP's price surge gathered momentum on May 15 as fresh on-chain data revealed whale wallets now control a combined 45.83 billion tokens—the highest accumulation level since May 2018. This represents 68.5% of XRP's total circulating supply, according to Santiment, signaling strong conviction among high-net-worth investors and institutions.
Spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows added fuel, with $18.52 million entering on May 14—the second-strongest session since February. Bitwise led the way with $7.01 million in fresh capital. Meanwhile, the number of wallets holding at least 10,000 XRP climbed to a record 332,230 addresses, indicating broad-based accumulation beyond just mega-whales.
The accumulation coincides with a wave of regulatory and infrastructure catalysts. The CLARITY Act advanced through the Senate Banking Committee, removing a long-standing regulatory overhang. Ripple's live test of tokenized U.S. Treasury settlement on the XRP Ledger with JPMorgan, Mastercard, and Ondo Finance has repositioned XRP as institutional settlement infrastructure. XRP exchange-traded products saw a 1,220% week-on-week inflow spike, pushing year-to-date flows to $191 million.
XRP traded near $1.46, a 2.37% 24-hour gain, with immediate resistance at $1.50. A sustained close above could open the path toward $1.70–$2.00. Key risks include potential sell pressure from the same large wallets and periodic escrow releases by Ripple, which require consistent ETF demand and on-chain transaction volume to absorb.
