Whales Acquire Over $1 Billion in XRP in a Week Amid ETF Speculation and Institutional Interest Surge

XRP showed strong performance on Thursday, extending its Wednesday gains after retesting the daily trendline support near $3.08.

At press time, the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap was trading at $3.35, representing an impressive 14.25% surge in the past 24 hours. Its market capitalization climbed to $192.6 billion, highlighting a remarkable 22.41% price increase over the past week.

This rally aligns with unprecedented whale activity in the XRP market. According to the popular crypto analytics platform Santiment, wallets holding between 1 million and 10 million XRP have accumulated approximately 1.43 billion XRP since November 12, 2024, reflecting a substantial 37.4% increase in their holdings.

“The top trending tokens in crypto Tuesday are XRP and Ethereum,” Santiment stated in a Wednesday tweet, highlighting the rising interest in XRP due to its efficiency, low transaction costs, and potential as a bridge currency for cross-border payments.

In a separate tweet, the firm also noted that XRP’s surge this week can be attributed to “enormous accumulation” by whale wallets, which now collectively own over $3.8 billion in XRP.

This notable accumulation coincides with rising speculation about the potential approval of XRP-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and growing institutional interest in the asset. On Monday, Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at VanEck, highlighted JPMorgan’s recent forecast that XRP and Solana-focused ETFs could draw between $3 billion and $8 billion in new investments if approved.

Sean Dawson, head of research at Derive Protocol, also shared his optimism, stating, “The positive price momentum is likely due to expectations of an XRP ETF being approved in 2025. As Bitcoin is bought up, investor interest could shift to altcoins like XRP, fueling further growth.”

The crypto community also believes that Ripple’s recent permission to launch trading for its RLUSD stablecoin could further bolster confidence in XRP’s future.

Elsewhere, analysts are projecting even greater gains for XRP. MM Crypto, a popular  Bitcoin maximalist with over 1.6 million followers on X (formerly Twitter) and a former critic turned XRP supporter, stated on Wednesday, “XRP is preparing for the second brutal leg up.” He added that he expects the asset to surpass $4.40 in the near term.

Interestingly, veteran chart analyst Peter Brandt has contributed to the growing optimism around XRP’s price. On January 12, Brandt offered an “olive branch” to the XRP community for his past criticism of the coin and shared a chart showcasing a clear bullish symmetrical triangle pattern on XRP’s daily timeframe.

Notably, Brandt, who now refers to XRP as “the leader of the pack,” previously predicted that a breakout from the pattern could pave the way for a significant price surge. Last week, he suggested that if the breakout fully materializes, XRP’s market cap could potentially reach an impressive $500 billion.