XRP Crashed 48% Since Ripple Co-founder Larsen Sold $200M, But There’s More

A CryptoQuant author points out that XRP has dropped nearly 50% since Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen sold millions, but there’s more to the story.

This disclosure came from JA Maartunn, CryptoQuant’s community analyst, amid XRP’s current struggles, as the crypto asset finally relinquishes the pivotal $2 support level. For context, after holding above $2 despite the persistent downtrend, XRP eventually closed below the support on Dec. 14 for the first time in three weeks.

The last time XRP closed a daily candle below $2 was on Nov. 22, and before that was April 10, about eight months ago. With the $2 cushion lost, XRP has tumbled further, changing hands around $1.88, as it extends its year-to-date loss to 9.46%, on track to record its first annual bearish close since 2022.

The Ripple Co-founder Sale

Maartunn recently took advantage of the latest price collapse to spotlight a previous disclosure from him. For context, when XRP traded strongly above the $3 mark in July, the Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen sold off about $200 million worth of XRP tokens. Maartunn highlighted this, calling XRP holders the “exit liquidity.”

Expectedly, his choice of words did not sit well with the broader XRP community, with some proponents pointing out that even company CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg do sell some of their firms’ shares. Others called attention to large-scale sales also conducted by Bitcoin miners.

Today, XRP has dropped 48% from the $3.6 price it traded for when Larsen sold off some of his stash. Maartunn was quick to highlight this, noting how he faced criticism for only presenting a warning. “But sure… nothing to worry about, right?” The analyst remarked.

XRP Decline Largely Driven by Broader Market Weakness

Maartunn’s latest commentary implies a direct link between Larsen’s XRP sale and the token’s recent underperformance, which does not reflect the broader reality. 

Notably, XRP’s price decline comes from a market-wide downturn affecting major crypto assets across the board, rather than from any isolated sale or inherent structural weakness specific to the token.

For context, XRP has declined 48% from its July peak of $3.6, while Bitcoin (BTC) has fallen 30% from its July high of $123,000. Ethereum (ETH) has also retreated sharply, sliding 41% from its August peak of $4,955. On a year-to-date basis, XRP’s 9.46% decline shows greater resilience than ETH’s 11.93% drop, though it trails Bitcoin, which is down a comparatively modest 7.64%.

Overall, the global crypto market has erased more than $1.36 trillion from its valuation since reaching a peak of $4.27 trillion on Oct. 6. Of this figure, XRP accounts for $74.61 billion, while Ethereum represents a substantially larger $220 billion. As expected, Bitcoin bears the greatest share of the losses, shedding roughly $780 million over the same period.

Meanwhile, the daily XRP chart shows that the crypto token had only closed below $2 three times this year. Interestingly, each time this happened alongside a drop in the RSI to the 30 region, XRP bounced back shortly after. The latest instance marks the fourth time XRP has closed below $2, with the RSI now at 34. However, it remains unclear if the same trend will repeat.