Researcher Says Worst Place to be Right Now is with No XRP

Amid the current XRP adoption rate, a market researcher has suggested that the worst place for anyone to be is without an XRP investment.

The recent comment comes as community figures continue to encourage an accumulation culture among investors during the ongoing market uncertainty. For context, XRP has relinquished the much-contested $2.2 price level following four consecutive intraday declines from May 2 to 5.

XRP Wallets Hit New Milestone

Despite a mild recovery on May 6, the altcoin remains below the pivotal $2.2 level, repeatedly switching between resistance and support. As tensions rise, some investors have seized the opportunity to amass more tokens. 

Specifically, addresses holding at least 10,000 XRP tokens recently spiked to a new all-time high above 300,000. The Crypto Basic confirmed this bullish development, citing on-chain data provided by Glassnode. The data indicated that this tier has continued to increase throughout the year despite the ongoing market uncertainty.

Interestingly, Chad Steingraber, a software engineer and XRP community figure, also called attention to this spike in addresses holding 10,000 XRP and above. According to his disclosure, the number of XRP whales is increasing, and this gradual uptick could also translate to an increase in XRP price.

Researcher Believes Not Holding XRP is a Bad Decision

Notably, Rob Cunningham, a writer and researcher, built on this narration. He noted that he carried out an AI analysis of Steingraber’s claims and found that even with the increase in addresses holding at least 10,000 XRP, their number is still very small compared to the general adult population.

Thank you, @ChadSteingraber! You triggered me to do a @grok search with your post below!

“Approximately 0.0032% of the world's adult population (200,000 out of ~6.19 billion adults) owns more than 10,000 XRP. This is a tiny fraction, reflecting the niche nature of cryptocurrency… https://t.co/GEelwGG9uQ

— Rob Cunningham | KUWL.show (@KuwlShow) May 4, 2025

According to Cunningham, of the 300,000 wallets, he estimated that a third might belong to the same investors. As a result, he calculated that the actual number of individuals who own these 300,000 wallets might be 200,000 in reality. This is a reasonable estimate, considering that some investors hold multiple XRP wallets for several purposes.

Now, his AI analysis suggested that the 200,000 estimated figure only makes up 0.0032% of the adult population with at least 10,000 XRP. Cunningham believes this is still very low. Notably, this reflects the sentiment that despite existing for over a decade, the XRP market is still in its early adoption phase.

Community commentators like Cunningham believe this presents an attractive opportunity for investors to commit to XRP now that it is early. According to Cunningham, the worst situation for any individual to be in right now is to live without an XRP wallet or without holding XRP.

This sentiment comes from the optimism surrounding XRP’s potential, as several analysts expect it to claim higher price levels in the foreseeable future. For instance, market watcher Cryptominder suggested last month that XRP could hit $50 by 2030, a 2,247% increase from the current price of $2.14. Interestingly, others are also eyeing the $100 price mark as a potential target.