XRP Whales Now Control 68.5% of the Supply, the Most Since 2022. Could That Push XRP Back Above $2?

The largest XRP holders (CRYPTO:XRP) continue to accumulate coins, yet the price has remained relatively stable. According to Santiment, an on-chain analytics firm, wallets holding 10 million XRP or more now control about 68.5% of the total supply—the highest percentage since November 2022.

XRP is trading at $1.32, down 13.8% for the month and 28.9% since the start of the year. To reach $2 again, XRP would need to gain 51.5%. XRP last traded above $2 on January 19, 2026.

So, have these whales found a bottom, or is the 68.5% figure less promising than it seems?

What Santiment’s Whale Reading Reveals

Santiment tracks wallet balances on public blockchains, categorizing wallets by how many coins they hold and showing each group’s share of the total. The current figure focuses on wallets holding at least 10 million XRP.

Typically, a rising share of whales suggests savvy investors are buying, as these large holders can withstand price drops and reduce the supply available for sale, potentially strengthening any price rebound. This is why rising whale ownership amid declining prices is often seen as a bullish sign.

Whale ownership previously peaked in November 2022, shortly after the FTX collapse, when cryptocurrencies were near their cycle lows. As recently as October 28, 2023, XRP traded around $0.54 before hitting an all-time high of $3.65 on July 17, 2025. However, that increase took years and required outside help, including Ripple’s partial court win against the SEC in July 2023 and a more favorable regulatory climate after the 2024 election.

Why the 68.5% Whale Figure May Not Be as Strong as It Appears

The group of wallets holding 10 million XRP includes not only wealthy individuals but also exchange cold wallets, ETF custodians, and Ripple’s own escrow and treasury addresses, all of which easily meet this threshold. So a rising whale percentage can mean coins are moving into storage, not that new buying is happening.

Whale ownership can also increase for reasons unrelated to purchases. For example, when an exchange consolidates many small customer deposits into one cold wallet, the coins change location, not ownership. The same applies when custodians reorganize ETF holdings into a few large addresses.

On the ETF side, activity looks quiet. Spot XRP ETFs registered a net outflow of about $3.6 million on October 26. Their cumulative net inflow is about $1.80 billion, just below the $1.804 billion peak recorded on October 22 and 23. Many sessions since late September have shown little or no net flow.

That suggests the recent rise in whale share likely comes from exchanges reorganizing wallets or from large buyers entering the market, but the data cannot say which.

The Need for Fresh Capital to Move XRP

For prices to rise, fresh money must enter the market, and ETF flows are the best way to track it. The largest daily inflow since late September was about $8.2 million on October 8. Total ETF net assets fell from a high of $1.70 billion on October 6 to $1.47 billion on October 26.

Price levels count too. XRP trades below its 20-day average of $1.34 and its 50-day average of $1.40, with its 200-day average at $1.28 acting as the nearest support.

XRP’s highest close in the past 30 days was around $1.52 on October 4, while the 90-day high was about $1.57 on September 22.

XRP has also lagged behind its peers. Since the beginning of 2026, Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) is down 8.4%, Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) is down 21.7%, and Solana (CRYPTO:SOL) is down 19.1%, while XRP is down 28.9%. Whale accumulation hasn’t stopped that weakness.

In the short term, XRP has shown some resilience, up 2.3% over the past 24 hours, versus 1.1% for Bitcoin. On October 27, XRP rose from about $1.29 to the $1.32 range before leveling off slightly below $1.33.

Has Whale Accumulation Led XRP’s Price Before?

In some instances, yes, but usually with additional factors involved. The peak in whale holdings in November 2022 came close to a cycle low, while XRP’s big rally didn’t arrive until years later, driven by court decisions and regulatory changes. The 68.5% reading alone is unlikely to push XRP back above $2, because much of that metric could reflect custody shifts rather than new buying.

For XRP to reach $2 again, it would need a precise sequence of moves. First, it must bounce back above its 20-day average at $1.34. Next, it would need to recover its 50-day average at $1.40, then clear its 30-day closing high near $1.52. Even after those recoveries, it would still need a big rally to cover the remaining 51.5% gain.

For anyone holding XRP, two triggers would change the outlook. The flow trigger is a run of positive daily ETF inflows that pushes total net inflow beyond the $1.804 billion high, showing new money entering the market.

The price trigger is a decisive close above the $1.40 50-day average, suggesting whale buying is driven by genuine demand. If XRP instead drops below its $1.28 200-day average, the 68.5% reading looks more like exchange bookkeeping than a true bottom.

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