Ripple has stirred discussions across the crypto community today following a large XRP transfer pulled by the renowned San Francisco-based blockchain company.
On Tuesday, December 23, blockchain monitoring platform Whale Alert showcased data revealing a massive crypto transfer from Ripple involving tens of millions of XRP amid the broad crypto market volatility.
The data shows that Ripple moved 65 million XRP worth over $121 million to an unknown address, sparking curiosities about what the firm might be up to.
The transfer, which was executed in a single transaction, came at a time when the broad crypto market was moving on a negative path, with XRP trading in deep red territory.
Did Ripple just dump?
While such a move is not frequently noticed from Ripple, the mysterious transfer of such a large volume of XRP from the firm has caused market watchers to wonder about the purpose of the transfer.
Some commentators fear that the transfer could signal a potential sell-off from the firm or a liquidity move, considering its timing and nature.
Moreover, others suggested that the transfer may have been triggered by Ripple’s recent operational activities, possibly associated with strategic partnerships or internal treasury management.
Over the past months, Ripple has conducted large XRP movements for business development purposes following its push for cross-border payments and growing institutional demand; hence, its latest transfer may also be attributed to one of those causes.
XRP turns red despite strong institutional demand
Since the massive October 10 crash, XRP has continued to struggle to maintain bullish momentum, falling far beyond crucial support levels.
While the asset has remained unstable as broader crypto markets experience increased volatility, it has failed in its recent attempt to recover previous losses.
After showing decent price gains in the past days, XRP has returned to red territory, showing a price slump of 0.42% over the last 24 hours.
According to data from CoinMarketCap, XRP is trading at $1.89 as of writing time.
With such a massive XRP offload from Ripple coming at a time like this, the transaction has sparked more uncertainties among short-term traders.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team