Ripple Insider Transfers 18M XRP to Binance, What For?

Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen has continued to transfer XRP to exchanges, sparking uncertainty among community members

In less than one week, Ripple co-founder and Chairman Chris Larsen has initiated multiple huge XRP transfers. On Monday, the Chairman of the blockchain payments firm moved 3 million XRP to Binance. Another 15 million XRP soon followed, this time to a wallet activated by Bittrex. Investors are still concerned about the potential implications of these transfers.

XRP Whale Activities Keep Coin Price Surging 

Last week, Whale Alert revealed that a wallet linked to Larsen transferred 50 million XRP, which was worth approximately $29 million at the time. This transfer was the wallet’s first transaction after about 11 years of inactivity. Larsen reportedly moved another 20 million XRP, proof of intentional fund movements. 

Such significant offloads usually impact the price of the token. Following the latest transfer of 18 million XRP, the Ripple-associated coin is now trading at $0.5898 after increasing by 0.27% in the past 24 hours. Per CoinMarketCap’s data, the coin’s trading volume is down by 0.18%, suggesting a drop in investor interest and activity.

XRP’s resilience could be attributed to the other bullish activities in its ecosystem. A few days ago, BGECrypto reported that XRP whales are accumulating the altcoin. Even blockchain analytics platform Santiment confirmed that the number of whales holding more than $5 million has grown significantly. At that time, these whales owned about 55% of the XRP total supply. 

Possibility of a Spot XRP ETF

There are ongoing discussions about the possibility of an XRP Exchange-traded Fund (ETF). At first, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse admitted that the approval and proliferation of multiple ETFs could fundamentally transform the financial market. He further acknowledged ETFs’ capacity to democratize cryptocurrency access, increase liquidity, and foster asset competition.

While he was not specific about an XRP ETF, Garlinghouse mentioned that multiple ETFs could help legitimize digital assets in the eyes of regulators and traditional investors. In the long run, this could usher in regulatory clarity on crypto and a robust framework implementation.

For now, investment asset management firm Grayscale has launched its XRP Trust, which gives accredited investors direct exposure to XRP.

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