The XRP Ledger is seeing dramatically less activity than it was 18 months ago, even as large holders quietly stack tokens. New daily addresses collapsed from 18,000 in December 2024 to roughly 2,700 in May 2026 — an 85% drop. Monthly active supply fell more than 70%, from 7.45 billion XRP to about 2 billion, according to Glassnode. Meanwhile, whales accumulated 110 million XRP through March, and exchange reserves hit historic lows at 12.9 billion XRP. In a separate corner of the market, Bitcoin Hyper — a Bitcoin Layer 2 that integrates the Solana Virtual Machine — closed its presale with more than $32.6 million raised at $0.0136 per token.
Network slump, self-custody shift
The drop in new addresses isn't just a blip. Since early 2025, the number of fresh wallets on XRP Ledger has been trending down. Exchange reserves, now at an all-time low of 12.9 billion XRP, suggest holders are moving coins off exchanges into self-custody. That could explain some of the fall in active supply — tokens sitting in cold wallets don't move often. But the 80% decline in new addresses points to a broader slowdown in retail onboarding.
Whales keep buying
Despite the quiet network, big players have been accumulating. Through March, whales added 110 million XRP to their bags. XRP itself is trading in the $1.38 to $1.42 range after bouncing from $1.38 to $1.45. That $1.45 level remains resistance, and the token hasn't broken cleanly through it yet. The price action is treading water while on-chain metrics go the other way.
From retail to rails
RedStone co-founder Marcin Kazmierczak offered a reason for the disconnect: the network is shifting from retail speculation to institutional rails. That shift, he noted, affects address charts. Institutions don't create thousands of new wallets. They build infrastructure. If that thesis holds, the low address count might be a feature, not a bug — but it makes the XRP Ledger look dormant compared to its 2024 peak.
Bitcoin Hyper's $32.6M presale
Bitcoin Hyper, a Bitcoin Layer 2 that runs the Solana Virtual Machine, wrapped up its presale after raising $32.6 million. The project promises sub-second finality and low-cost smart contracts — a pitch that's attracted attention in a market hungry for Bitcoin scalability. At $0.0136 per token, the presale valuation suggests early believers are betting on a technical bridge between Bitcoin's security and Solana's speed.
What comes next for XRP? The $1.45 resistance hasn't broken. If whales keep accumulating and retail stays away, the price could sit in this range until something external — a regulatory move, a partnership, a market-wide shift — changes the calculus. For Bitcoin Hyper, the real test starts after the presale: can it deliver on those sub-second finality promises in production?
