Ripple Transfers 200 Million XRP as Token Price Falls Below $0.56

• A report by Whale Alert has revealed that Ripple recently transferred 200 million XRP tokens valued at $109 million, from a Ripple-linked wallet to an unknown address.
• This significant transfer come amidst the ongoing appeal against the SEC’s lawsuit.

A report by Whale Alert, a popular blockchain tracking platform has revealed that Ripple, one of the largest cryptocurrencies has transferred a staggering 200 million XRP tokens. According to the transaction tracker, on Monday at 20:28 UTC, the sending address “rBg2Fu” moved the 200 million XRP, valued at approximately $109 million at the time, to an unknown wallet, “rP4X2h.” 

🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 200,000,000 #XRP (109,416,737 USD) transferred from #Ripple to unknown wallet https://t.co/w8bqGKNC6C

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) October 21, 2024

Giving a closer look at Ripple’s transactions, this is not the first occurrence where Ripple-related addresses have shuffled XRP tokens among them. Data from Bithomp, a blockchain explorer, has put to light a history of significant transfers between these two addresses. 

The receiving address, marked as “unknown” by Whale Alert, frequently receives large sums of XRP from the sending address. However, the recipient wallet typically moves these funds to other addresses, especially those affiliated with cryptocurrency exchanges

This recent transaction marks yet another instance of Ripple moving vast amounts of XRP between internal wallets. On September 13, the sending wallet also transferred 150 million XRP to the same recipient.

Fast forward to September 23,  a similar transfer occurred, with the sending address transferring 200 million XRP, then valued at $117.6 million to the same receiving address. 

Despite Whale Alert labeling the recipient address as unknown, it has been linked to Ripple. The wallet has played a key role in distributing XRP from Ripple to external wallets, particularly those belonging to cryptocurrency exchanges like Bitstamp and Bitso. 

These movements raise concerns about whether Ripple is offloading its reserves to third parties, potentially contributing to market volatility.

As of now, the receiving wallet still holds the entire 200 million XRP it acquired on Monday. The wallet’s total balance stands at 254.4 million XRP, valued at $138 million, hinting at potential future transactions.

At the time of writing, XRP is swapping wallets at  $0.5451 marking a 0.80% and 0.22% decline in the last 24 hours and past week respectively. Additionally, its market cap has declined by 0.88%, stopping at $30.90 billion.

These significant transfers come amidst the ongoing appeal against the SEC’s lawsuit. The appeal is expected to directly challenge Judge Analisa Torres’s previous ruling, which favored Ripple by determining that the sale of XRP through exchanges did not violate U.S. securities laws.

Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, has offered insights into the potential outcomes of the appeal. He suggested that the SEC’s ideal scenario might involve the case being sent back to Judge Torres. However, Alderoty expressed skepticism about the SEC’s ability to successfully challenge the ruling, stating,

The SEC could find themselves arguing to Judge Torres that she wasn’t a ‘person of ordinary intelligence’ when she ruled against them.