New data from Santiment reveals a striking shift in XRP’s on-chain landscape: the number of large whale and shark wallets is falling sharply, yet the wallets that remain are accumulating XRP at some of the highest levels seen in years.
According to Santiment, the XRP Ledger has 20.6% fewer 100M+ XRP wallets compared to just eight weeks ago, a reduction of 569 wallets. This contraction suggests that a portion of large holders has exited or redistributed their funds during recent market volatility.
However, the story does not end with the decline in addresses. Despite the drop in whale count, the remaining large holders now collectively control over 48 billion XRP, marking a 7-year high in total accumulation.
Santiment’s chart shows a clear divergence: fewer wallets, but significantly more coins concentrated among those staying in the market.
This pattern typically indicates a transition from many mid-sized large holders to fewer, stronger hands, often interpreted as a bullish long-term signal, as committed whales consolidate supply.
With whale distribution tightening and total holdings climbing to multi-year highs, XRP’s largest players appear to be positioning themselves for future market moves, even as headline wallet numbers decline.