On-chain analytics firm Santiment has reported a notable increase in XRP holdings among large investors, a trend it says underpins the cryptocurrency’s recent price recovery. According to data shared on Santiment’s official X account, wallets holding between 100,000 and 100 million XRP—commonly referred to as whales and sharks—saw their collective balances rise by 2.8% over the past five weeks.
In contrast, the smallest retail addresses, those with balances under 0.1 XRP, reduced their holdings by 5.2%. This divergence suggests that institutional-scale investors have been accumulating XRP while smaller traders exit, a pattern that Santiment notes has historically aligned more closely with XRP’s price movements than retail activity.
The accumulation occurred as XRP traded in a relatively weak range between roughly $1.05 and $1.12, before rebounding to touch $1.16 and settling around $1.14, according to CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko data. The cryptocurrency has gained more than 3% over the past week.
Further positive signals include renewed interest in XRP spot ETFs, which recorded $5.09 million in net inflows on July 21 after $2.27 million on July 20 and $6.10 million on July 16, following a brief period of outflows earlier in the month. Additionally, the XRP Ledger is poised for a significant upgrade, with validators expected to vote on a package that would introduce batch transactions, confidential transfers, and improvements to the Multi-Purpose Token (MPT) standard.
While whale accumulation is historically bullish, analysts caution that broader market sentiment, macroeconomic conditions, and ETF flows remain critical factors for the sustainability of XRP’s rally.
