XRP wallets surge as whales add holdings

TLDR

XRP (XRP) is seeing a clear on-chain shift, with both new wallets and large holders increasing their exposure at the same time.

1. Wallets with at least 10,000 XRP and 10 million XRP have hit record highs, and whales have accumulated roughly 71 million XRP in the past week.
2. Whales now control around 68 to 70 percent of the XRP supply, while ETF and institutional inflows add another slow but steady demand source.
3. The key to whether this becomes a real price driver is if elevated wallet growth, exchange outflows, and ETF inflows persist rather than fading after this spike.

Deep Dive

1. What Is Actually Surging On-Chain

Several independent datasets show a synchronized jump in XRP wallets and whale holdings:

1. On-chain firm Santiment reports that wallets holding at least 10 million XRP now control about 45.8 billion XRP, roughly 68.5 percent of supply, the highest share since 2018, with an estimated value near 68.5 billion dollars at recent prices. BSCNews and others highlight this as an eight year record.
2. Multiple analyses note whales bought roughly 71 million XRP (around 95 to 100 million dollars) in the last week during a modest price pullback, suggesting dip buying rather than distribution. This figure is referenced across several reports, including NewsBTC coverage.
3. Wallet growth is not just big holders recycling coins. Santiment flagged about 4,300 new XRP wallets created in 24 hours, the fourth largest spike of 2026, and the count of wallets with at least 10,000 XRP has hit a new all time high near 332,000 wallets, as covered by Cointelegraph and others.

2. Supply Concentration, ETFs And Market Structure

High whale share cuts both ways.

Santiment and several outlets note that whale cohorts now hold about 68 to 70 percent of circulating XRP, an eight year high, while exchange netflows show sizable withdrawals across major venues such as Binance and Coinbase, interpreted as large holders moving coins into custody rather than keeping them on exchanges for sale, as discussed in Bitcoinists netflow analysis.

At the same time, US spot XRP ETFs, led by Franklin Templetons XRPZ, now manage roughly 1.1 to 1.2 billion dollars in assets, about 1.3 percent of total supply, after a run of positive daily inflows highlighted by Tokenpost. That is small compared with whale holdings, but it adds a regulated demand channel that often correlates with short term price moves.

3. Signals To Watch From Here

Three things matter more than the current headline numbers:

1. Wallet growth and active addresses. If new address creation and daily active wallets stay elevated (rather than reverting immediately), it supports the idea of durable network adoption, as Santiments on-chain chart suggests.
2. Exchange flows. Continued net outflows from major exchanges imply ongoing accumulation; a sharp reversal to heavy inflows would signal rising sell pressure from whales.
3. ETF and macro flows. Spot XRP ETF inflows and any regulatory developments tied to legislation like the CLARITY Act, cited in recent ETF coverage, will shape whether institutional demand keeps building or stalls.

Conclusion

XRP is in a phase where on-chain data looks stronger than its recent price action, with whales and new wallets steadily adding exposure. That combination can set up powerful moves if liquidity thins and a catalyst arrives, but concentrated ownership also means any future whale distribution or shift in ETF flows could quickly flip the narrative. Monitoring address growth, exchange flows, and institutional demand will be more informative than watching price alone in the near term.