XRP Whales has transferred over 285 million XRP tokens following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) decision to appeal a recent ruling in an ongoing case against Ripple. These transfers came shortly after the SEC appeal was announced on Wednesday, October 2nd, suggesting that large players in the market may be selling their XRP holdings. .
XRP Whale Offloads Massive Reserves
The first XRP whale transaction saw 22 million XRP worth $11.7 million moved from an unknown wallet to Bitso, a Mexico-based cryptocurrency exchange, according to data from Whale Alert. This was followed by a further 20 million XRP (worth $10.8 million) being transferred to Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges.
Similar huge transfers continued throughout the day, with 29.8 million XRP ($15.5 million) sent to Indonesian exchange Indodax. Additionally, 30 million XRP worth $15.6 million was moved to Binance again.
🚨 30,000,000 #XRP (15,646,621 USD) was sent from an unknown wallet to #Binancehttps://t.co/NlkXUALen9
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) October 3, 2024
One particularly interesting transaction was an XRP whale transfer of 104.4 million tokens worth $54.7 million from an unknown wallet to a newly created unknown wallet. This trade does not include an exchange fire sale, but may be indicative of private off-market activity. Additionally, the funds may later be moved to an exchange for sale.
Additionally, 29.32 million XRP ($15.1 million) was transferred from Binance to an unknown wallet. This suggests that some XRP whales are adamant about preserving their reserves or even accumulating more.
SEC Appeal Saga
These XRP whale moves come on the heels of the SEC’s recent decision to appeal a federal court ruling in a lawsuit against Ripple. The ruling, handed down by Judge Annalisa Torres, said that while Ripple’s sales of XRP to institutional investors violated federal securities laws, its sales to retail investors through exchanges did not.
“We believe the district court’s decision in the Ripple matter is inconsistent with decades of Supreme Court precedent and securities law,” an SEC spokesperson asserted, according to a CoinDesk report.
The allegations have reignited uncertainty over the future of XRP, raising concerns that the price will fall further as large holders exit their positions. At the time of writing, on Thursday, October 3, XRP price has fallen 5.74% to $0.525.
Meanwhile, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse expressed confidence in the token’s status as a “non-security”. Legal experts also called the SEC’s move “unfortunate,” and analysts expect the price of XRP to rebound if the judge sides with Ripple.
Also read: Pro-XRP lawyer reveals Ripple’s mastery of SEC cross-appeal
