A flurry of activity surrounding newly-activated XRP whale wallets has sparked speculation among investors. Between 11:00 and 15:00 UTC on January 24, these wallets accumulated over 883 million XRP, exceeding $454 million in value, according to leading crypto whale-tracking platform Whale Alert (@whale_alert).
Most of the transactions involved outflows from wallets associated with the crypto exchange Bitvavo. Notably, this activity followed a distinct pattern, raising intriguing questions about its purpose.
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A Series of 25 Million XRP Transfers Begin the Movement
The first transaction witnessed a 25 million XRP transfer ($12.91 million) from a Bitvavo wallet to a new XRP address at 11:03 UTC. This transaction was the first transaction for the new wallet, and Whale Alert tagged it as an “unknown new wallet.”
🚨 25,000,000 #XRP (12,916,639 USD) transferred from #Bitvavo to unknown new wallethttps://t.co/eASvtCeFLT
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) January 24, 2024
Four subsequent transactions, all originating from different Bitvavo wallets, mirrored this pattern. Each transferred 25 million XRP to newly activated addresses at varying intervals, bringing the total transferred through these five transactions to 125 million XRP. These transactions are not the first whale transactions involving a major exchange, as transactions involving Bitstamp prompted selloff speculation last month.
Interestingly, further investigation revealed that one of the Bitvavo wallets was created on December 8 and remained inactive until the transfer. The other four Bitvavo wallets were activated on the same day as the transfers.
Adding to the intrigue, all sending addresses received substantial XRP deposits (ranging from 198 million to over 223 million tokens) from unknown addresses before transferring out the 25 million XRP. This suggests the possibility of these Bitvavo wallets being used as temporary holding points for routing larger funds.
Intensifying Whale Activity
XRP has not been left out of the rapidly increasing whale activity in the crypto market. Within two hours, five transactions exceeding 100 million XRP took place, making January 24 one of the most active days in a while in terms of whale movement.
It’s crucial to note that each of these ten transactions, totaling 883.7 million XRP, went to separate, newly activated wallets.
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Accumulation or Rebalancing?
As expected with such large whale movements, speculation regarding Ripple’s potential involvement has emerged. The company uses XRP for various purposes, often involving significant transfers. However, despite thorough investigation, no conclusive link has been found between Ripple and the recent transactions.
Therefore, two primary interpretations remain. It could be a potential accumulation spree by unknown whales or an account rebalancing maneuver by Bitvavo. The next few months will be interesting with the increasing whale activities heading into the Bitcoin halving.
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