The staggering surge in the price of XRP over the past month, a robust 370% rise from approximately $0.50 to a noteworthy $2.4, appears to be fanned by ‘whales’ via the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange, listed on Nasdaq.
CryptoQuant co-founder, Ki Young Ju, highlighted that in the past 30 days, minute-level price premiums for XRP on Coinbase oscillated between 3% and 13% during the surge. This indicates a substantial buying activity on the platform. Intriguingly, Upbit, the Korean cryptocurrency trading platform reputed for a larger retail XRP investors base than the leading trading platform Binance, did not display any significant premium, Young Ju noted.
The robust activity of whales for XRP has simultaneously hit an all-time high, coinciding with the token’s price skyrocketing over the past month. This surge has propelled the cryptocurrency to become the third-largest digital asset by market capitalization.
Several key factors have contributed to XRP’s stellar performance over the past month. Donald Trump’s recent victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election has sparked expectations of a pro-crypto administration, bolstering investor confidence. Additionally, the expected departure of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler on 20 January 2025 has investors anticipating a more favorable regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies.
Moreover, the price of XRP received a further boost after several firms, including WisdomTree, Bitwise, 21Shares, and Canary Capital, filed to list a spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the country. However, the SEC has yet to give a green signal for a spot XRP ETF. The regulator has been embroiled in a legal tussle with Ripple, a major player in the XRP sector, since 2020. The SEC accused Ripple of raising $1.3 billion through XRP sales, terming the token an unregistered security.
Ripple’s significant legal victory came in July 2023 when Judge Analisa Torres ruled that certain programmatic sales of XRP did not constitute securities transactions. However, she determined that direct sales to institutional investors were indeed securities offerings.
Interestingly, data from CryptoQuant indicates that the XRP whale activity is a major driver of the cryptocurrency’s price surge as it hit a new all-time high. CryptoQuant analyst Woominkyu pointed out that historical data shows significant spikes in whale-to-exchange XRP transactions align closely with XRP price peaks. A recent spike in these transactions occurred around the $2.3 mark, suggesting that the whales could be gearing up for potential profit-taking or increased market activity.
