The number of whales on the XRP Ledger has been growing recently, and large investors have been behaving aggressively by accumulating the cryptocurrency. The accumulation is said to be in anticipation of a favorable outcome in the legal battle between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This information was provided by on-chain analytics firm Santiment, as first shared by popular cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez.
The XRP Ledger has seen 50 new whale addresses, each holding between 10 million and 100 million XRP. At the time of writing, the holding for these addresses is worth between $3.8 million and $38 million. The crypto analyst also added that large investors have accumulated 420 million new tokens worth $155 million over the past month in an accumulation trend that suggests whales are gearing up for a significant price movement.
This accumulation trend is interesting considering crypto investment products saw a record-setting $255 million in outflows in recent times. However, institutional cryptocurrency investors raised their bets on cryptocurrency investment products offering them exposure to Solana and XRP earlier this month despite the outflows. For instance, investment products providing exposure to Solana saw inflows of $400,000 while those offering exposure to XRP saw inflows of $300,000. Polygon’s ($MATIC) investment products saw inflows of $100,000.
XRP has been performing well lately after Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, stated that the most recent ruling in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) lawsuit against Ripple has left him feeling more confident than ever about Ripple’s chances of winning. Judge Analisa Torres has issued a 57-page ruling, which has helped Alderoty’s confidence. The outcome of the lawsuit is likely to have a significant impact on the price of XRP as the SEC has accused Ripple of selling XRP as an unregistered security.
Ripple’s legal team has responded that XRP’s utility, liquidity, and distribution make it incompatible with securities regulations. They also argue that labeling it a security would directly impair its reason for existence.
The continuous accumulation of XRP by large investors could potentially propel it towards a price increase. However, the legal tussle between Ripple and the SEC needs to be settled before any significant gains occur.
It is pertinent to note that Ripple has been expanding its services across the globe. Recently, RippleNet officially launched in Africa, partnering with major banks and other financial service providers in the continent to facilitate cross-border payments. Furthermore, Ripple partnered with Flare Networks to explore the benefits of integrating Flare to Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) network.
In conclusion, the number of whales on the XRP Ledger has been growing significantly, with large investors accumulating more of the cryptocurrency, anticipating a favorable outcome in the legal battle between Ripple and the SEC. While the accumulation is encouraging, the legal battle needs to be sorted out before any significant price movement occurs.
