A series of large-scale XRP transactions has stirred fresh attention across Ripple’s blockchain community. In the wee hours of June 2, Whale Alert reported that 40,000,000 XRP ($87,344,679) was transferred from Ripple to an unknown wallet. What got everyone’s attention was that the transactions coincide with XRP’s 13th anniversary, as the network was first established on June 2, 2012.
A series of transfers
First, Ripple sent 50 million XRP, then locked up 670 million XRP in an escrow account. Transferring tokens into escrow accounts is not unusual as Ripple releases about 1 billion tokens monthly to manage liquidity and fund operations. This controlled release aims to maintain price stability by preventing market flooding.
But soon after, 170 million XRP were sent from an unknown wallet back to Ripple, which got people wondering what’s going on behind the scenes with their funds. The final transfer involved as many as 330 million tokens, according to Whale Alert.
Some critics on Reddit called out the centralized control that Ripple has on XRP saying that it risks market manipulation, as major holders like Ripple and exchanges like Binance, could destabilize prices if they sell large amounts at one go. Some others said that this transfer could be seen as an accumulation signal, likely pointing to a whale preparing for a longer-term hold rather than an imminent dump.
Ripple was co-founded by Arthur Britto, David Schwartz and Jed McCaleb in 2011. XRP is the fourth-biggest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $127 billion, according to CoinGecko. The token is trading around $2.16 in the last 24 hours and is one of the very few O.G. altcoins that have managed to remain at the top throughout all these years, a report by U Today claimed.