Large XRP holders went on a major buying spree, accumulating more than 300 million XRP within just 96 hours. According to crypto analyst Ali Charts, citing Santiment data, tracked whale holdings climbed from roughly 16.03 billion XRP to 16.36 billion XRP during that period. The accumulation was uneven, with balances first moving gradually toward 16.07 billion XRP before buying activity expanded considerably and pushed holdings toward 16.25 billion and then close to 16.36 billion.
The latest accumulation adds to other substantial whale activity. Ali Charts previously reported that whales accumulated more than 72 million XRP within a 24-hour period and over 380 million XRP during an earlier seven-day stretch. Large-value transaction activity also surged, with transactions above $1 million reportedly climbing 280% to approximately 38 transactions. Santiment additionally noted that the XRP millionaire wallet cohort added 32 wallets over three months.
XRP’s price reacted sharply, rising from a low near $0.99 on Wednesday to an intraday high of $1.245 on Thursday, a gain of more than 25%. At the time of writing, XRP was up about 22% over 24 hours to $1.23 and up 24% weekly, joining a broader rally that took Bitcoin past $72,000. CryptoQuant said average spot order sizes for XRP remained in big-whale territory throughout 2026, indicating quiet accumulation, while XRP open interest on Binance reached about $461.3 million, a two-month high.
Institutional-grade credit is also coming to the XRP Ledger. Cicada Partners is bringing credit expertise and a borrower pipeline powered by Clearpool infrastructure built on the XRPL Lending Protocol and Single Asset Vault. Ripple is acting as a liquidity provider in the credit fund, providing capital alongside institutional co-investors. Despite the whale buying, analysts caution that accumulation does not guarantee immediate price gains, and XRP remains below its January 2025 peak near $3.30.
