XRP jumps 25% to $1.24 as whales scoop 300 million tokens

XRP rose 25% to $1.245 early Thursday as large holders accumulated 300 million tokens in 96 hours, joining a rally that pushed Bitcoin past $72,000.

Whale wallets added more than 300 million XRP over four days, lifting total large-holder holdings toward 16.3 billion tokens, crypto analyst Ali said in a post on X. The cohort of XRP millionaire wallets grew by 32 in three months, according to Santiment.

The accumulation followed months of quiet buying, with average spot order sizes staying in big-whale territory through 2026, according to CryptoQuant. XRP's open interest on Binance reached about $461.3 million, a two-month high, while funding turned modestly positive at 0.0100 percent over eight hours, according to Hyperliquid data.

XRP now faces a make-or-break test at $1.40-$1.50, the structural resistance zone that would confirm the rally as a breakout rather than a short-covering bounce. About $2.2 million in short liquidations sits stacked at $1.38, with $1.4 million at $1.32 and $607,000 at $1.28, according to Hyperliquid positioning data.

Derivatives point to a squeeze

The rally drew fuel from forced short-covering. More than $1.5 billion in leveraged positions across crypto were liquidated during the move, while XRP's daily trading volume exploded 392.81 percent to $4.22 billion. XRP exchange-traded funds added $2.35 million in net inflows on Aug. 19, with Bitwise contributing $1.19 million and Franklin Templeton $1.16 million, lifting combined ETF net assets to $1.01 billion, according to SoSoValue.

The broader market backdrop turned supportive after the White House crypto summit on Aug. 19, where President Donald Trump urged Congress to act on the CLARITY Act, and the U.S. Treasury moved to double its buyback of long-duration debt. The Securities and Exchange Commission also proposed a "Regulation Crypto Assets" framework on Aug. 18 that would let qualified issuers raise up to $75 million in any 12-month span through token sales.

Institutional credit arrives on XRPL

Separately, Cicada Partners is bringing institutional-grade credit to the XRP Ledger, powered by Clearpool infrastructure built on the XRPL Lending Protocol and Single Asset Vault. Ripple is a liquidity provider in the credit fund, providing capital alongside institutional co-investors.

On the downside, Santiment is watching a 49 million XRP block sitting in an unidentified wallet after a Ripple-linked address moved 50 million XRP on Aug. 13, with 1 million going to a Binance-linked address. If the dormant supply heads to an exchange, it could add sell pressure just as the squeeze needs continued demand. A pullback to $1.19 would expose about $525,000 in long liquidations, with a full reversal to $1.13 pushing that to roughly $2.1 million.

Senate deliberation on the CLARITY Act is slated for Sept. 15, a date that could determine whether the regulatory tailwind persists.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.