XRP Whales Accumulate Over 4 Billion Tokens as Price Slumps

While XRP has shed roughly 50% of its value since last October, the largest wallets on the network have been buying. On-chain data from Santiment shows that large XRP whales accumulated approximately 4.09 billion tokens between the October 10, 2025, flash crash and March 9, 2026. At current prices around $1.36, that stack is worth approximately $5.6 billion.

This is not retail sentiment. This is the biggest tier of holders systematically absorbing supply while smaller addresses exit.

What Does the On-Chain Data Actually Show?

Santiment tracks XRP wallet cohorts by size. The accumulation breaks down across two large-holder tiers:

• Wallets holding 10M to 100M XRP added approximately 2.98 billion XRP, pushing their collective balance from 7.99 billion to 10.97 billion.
• Wallets holding 100M to 1B XRP added approximately 1.11 billion XRP, bringing their balance to 8.55 billion.

Combined, these large whale addresses now control 19.53 billion XRP. That is roughly 32% of the entire circulating supply of approximately 61.2 billion XRP, and it marks the highest combined balance this cohort has ever held.

The contrast with smaller holders is sharp. "Shark" addresses and smaller whale wallets, those holding between 100,000 and 10 million XRP, distributed 2.83 billion tokens over the same period, dropping their collective holdings to 10.14 billion. Larger, more patient capital accumulated as smaller holders reduced exposure.

How Bad Was the October Crash?

XRP opened October 10, 2025 around $2.80 before plunging intraday to as low as $1.58, a drop of roughly 43% to 45% within hours. The token partially recovered to the $2.37 range before sliding again. It has never reclaimed those pre-crash levels. As of March 9, 2026, XRP trades around $1.34 to $1.37, up roughly 1% in the past 24 hours and grinding inside a prolonged post-crash downtrend.

That is the backdrop for over 4 billion tokens changing hands.

Why Does Whale Accumulation Matter?

Supply dynamics are the core argument here. When the largest holders absorb billions of tokens while mid-tier wallets sell, the liquid supply available on exchanges tightens. If demand returns, there is less XRP available to buy, which amplifies price moves to the upside.

XRP has additional structural factors working alongside the accumulation data. Spot XRP ETFs, which launched in November 2025, have pulled in cumulative inflows exceeding $1.25 billion. Those tokens sit in custody and are effectively removed from circulation. Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin has grown to roughly $1.5 billion in supply, driving transaction volume on the XRP Ledger and contributing to fee burns.

None of that guarantees a price recovery, but it points to tightening supply at a time when institutional infrastructure around XRP continues to expand.

Is This the Start of a Recovery?

That question remains open. Whale accumulation is a bullish on-chain signal, but it is not a timing tool. These wallets can be early by months. The broader crypto market has remained under pressure since late 2025, and XRP has been one of the harder-hit major assets.

What the data does confirm is that the cohort with the most capital and, historically, the longest time horizon is not selling at these levels. They have added roughly $5.6 billion worth of XRP during one of the asset's worst drawdowns in recent memory.

Retail is distributing. Whales are stacking.

Sources:

• TheCryptoBasic Primary report by Sam Wisdom Raphael, citing Santiment on-chain data on whale accumulation since the October 2025 crash
• TheCryptoBasic on X TheCryptoBasic post summarizing their own article with on-chain chart
• Santiment On-chain analytics platform, primary data source for XRP supply distribution and wallet cohort tracking