The price of XRP fell in 2022 during the crypto winter, and the legal back and forth between Ripple Labs and the US Securities and Exchange Commission did not help matters.
However, the token continues to attract interest from whales and institutional investors. XRP still has a chance of recovery, which seems to be the motivation behind the massive acquisition of the token by the whales.
The whales take advantage of the dip
whale alert reported that the whales had moved more than 128 million XRP worth close to $53 million in the last day. The largest recorded whale activity in that period was the movement of 35 million XRP worth around $15 million to the Bitstamp exchange.
According to the data, whales have bought up to 69 million XRP tokens in 24 hours. The first accumulation observed by Whale Alert is the addition of 33 million XRP (approximate value greater than $13 million) to a Bitstamp address.
?33,000,000 #XRP (13,274,704 USD) transferred from unknown wallet to #bitstamphttps://t.co/YZirFauiLJ
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) January 24, 2023
Other great accumulation of whales 36 million tokens were sent to a Bitstamp address worth $14,972,855 at the time of the transaction.
?36,000,000 #XRP (14,972,855 USD) transferred from unknown wallet to #bitstamphttps://t.co/QK23u7luIM
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) January 25, 2023
Whalestats also reports that XRP was the most traded token among BSC’s top 100 whales. The top 100 whales on this list currently hold over $28.6 million worth of XRP, which represents 2.5% of their entire portfolio.
In recent days, the activity of whales on the XRP network has increased. WhaleAlert reported massive transfers exceeding 600 million XRP tokens between anonymous whale addresses. The whale transfers come amid a surge in cryptocurrency inflows from investors since the start of the year.
A single transaction, such as reported Per WhaleAlert, he transported 254,594,795 XRP, which amounted to $107,778,830 between two unnamed whale addresses. another was about 221,500,500XRP worth $89,110,472 from an unknown whale address to a Bittrex-linked wallet. Each of the transfers occurred in individual transactions.
Ripple Versus SEC: Is the end in sight?
the course legal drama between Ripple Labs, Ripple (XRP) developers, and the SEC will likely end in 2023. Brad Garlinghouse, head of Ripple Labs, said he expects a conclusion to the ongoing saga in the first half of 2023.
The SEC sued Ripple Labs in 2020 for selling XRP tokens to the public, which it says were unregistered securities. The SEC has repeatedly classified XRP as securities, and Ripple’s defense team opposed the idea. Garlinghouse stated that the trial would take some time, but his confidence in Ripple’s chances of victory is high.
However, he stressed that a deal is unlikely since SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has labeled all cryptocurrencies as securities. Both parties have completed the final step in their motion for summary judgment and are now anticipating the court’s decision.
Meanwhile, the lead attorney for the defendant in the XRP case, Stuart Alderoty, said the outcome of the lawsuit would define which tokens are securities in the crypto space. He added that the ruling would affect regulations for crypto assets in the industry.
