Binance, the leading crypto exchange by trading volume, is the preferred destination for XRP whales, as it holds the highest amount of the XRPL native token.
The exchange’s recent brawl with US regulators has XRP whales unperturbed as they still continue to move their coins to Binance. For context, the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed 13 counts of charges against Binance and founder Changpeng Zhao last year, accusing them of illegal operations and selling unregistered securities.
Notably, the lawsuit sparked a withdrawal spree and diminished Binance’s spot market shares by over 19%. Despite this regulatory clampdown, XRP whales appear to prefer Binance over other crypto exchanges.
Binance Holds 1.5% of XRP Supply
Data from CryptoQuant shows that whales’ XRP accumulation on Binance resumed as early as 2021, when the amount of XRP moved to Binance surged to 1.2 billion. This large-scale purchase and transfer of XRP have remained on the exchange, as the whales have not shifted their assets elsewhere.
At some point this year, the XRP accumulation among whales on Binance surged to over 2.4 billion as the XRP influx into the exchange reached a new high. Notably, this ensured that Binance remains one of the largest holders of the XRPL native token.
Following Ripple Labs, Binance is the second largest holder of XRP, behind South Korean-based exchange Upbit. Notably, the UPbit wallet with the largest XRP stash holds 1.62 billion XRP ($885 million), while 10 other UPbit wallets store 500 million XRP each.
Binance stores XRP in multiple wallets. However, two wallets have the largest holdings: Binance (4) and Binance (5). The former holds 1.48 billion XRP ($808 million), while the latter stores 723 million ($395 million).
Notably, a factor that could influence XRP whale’s susceptibility to Binance is its staking services. The leading exchange allows users to stake their XRP, offering an APR of 0.77% on simple earn and between 3.69% and 49.79% on dual investment. The platform’s renown and reputation for security could also be a contributing factor.
XRP Whales Accumulate Despite Price Redundancy
Meanwhile, XRP whales have continued to buy in on the asset despite the underperformance. An earlier report shows that wallet addresses holding between 1 million and 10 million XRP acquired 40 million XRP in two days, valued at $22 million.
The accumulation follows one of the largest buy orders seen on Bitrue. For context, the market saw limit buy order for 26.3 million XRP at the price of $0.5415.
Despite these events, XRP has struggled compared to other top crypto assets. For instance, coins in the top eight crypto ranking by market cap have appreciated at least 6% in the past seven days, while XRP has increased by a mere 2.36% within the same timeframe.
However, analyst Charting Guy earlier speculated that XRP will continue to range between $0.43 and $0.67 until Bitcoin finds its footing. With the latest upsurge in Bitcoin’s price, a massive XRP rally seems to be in the books.
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