Wallets holding at least 10 million XRP now control 45.83 billion tokens — 68.5% of the total supply — the highest concentration of whale assets since May 2018, according to on-chain analytics firm Santiment. The milestone comes as the XRP Ledger also set a new all-time high for mid-sized holders earlier this month, with 332,230 wallets each holding at least 10,000 XRP as of May 13.
What the whale buildup signals
The accumulation isn't a knee-jerk reaction to short-term price swings. Santiment describes the current whale behavior as evidence of long-term positioning during market weakness. The 10M+ XRP cohort has been steadily adding tokens since the start of the year, and the supply share hasn't been this top-heavy in over eight years. That kind of conviction from the largest holders often suggests they expect a structural shift rather than a quick flip.
Retail participation keeps growing, too
It's not just the whales. The number of wallets with at least 10,000 XRP — a proxy for serious retail and institutional interest — has been climbing consistently since June 2024, and hit 332,230 on May 13. That's a new record. The growth has been resilient: after the February 5 crypto crash, the count dropped by more than 4,500 wallets between February 6 and 8. But it recovered quickly and now sits above the pre-crash level. The dip was a blip, not a reversal.
The $1.50 hurdle
The concentration figures arrive as XRP trades near a level that's historically been a pain point. The $1.50 zone has acted as technical resistance in the past, with prior rallies stalling there. A decisive breakout above that mark could change the near-term market structure, though the data on wallet accumulation suggests the base of holders is building regardless of where the price sits today.
The next question is whether the whale buildup accelerates as XRP approaches that resistance, or if the big holders are content to wait for a catalyst — regulatory clarity, network adoption, or something else entirely. The ledger's wallet counts suggest the ecosystem is expanding on multiple fronts, but the price hasn't yet caught up to the on-chain narrative.
