According to a recent tweet published by the blockchain sleuth Whale Alert, which tracks down large cryptocurrency transfers, an anonymous transaction was spotted slightly less than 20 hours ago.
This mysterious transfer pushed dozens of millions of XRP to centralized crypto trading platform Bitstamp.
In the meantime, the XRP price has made an attempt to recover after the decline it faced earlier this week.
Mysterious whale sends almost 30 million XRP to Bitstamp
A total of 27,950,000 XRP have been moved to Bitstamp, per data shared by the aforementioned cryptocurrency tracker. This is the equivalent of $14,741,183 in fiat.
In the comments thread, the crypto community assumed that this anonymous whale intended to sell his millions of XRP. Some users, however, pointed out that the source of this transaction was fintech giant Ripple Labs. Indeed, data provided by XRP-focused platform Bithomp shows that the wallet, which send the XRP to Bitstamp, is linked to Ripple.
This transaction could be related to “Ripple Payments” operations. This service runs on RippleNet and leverages XRP for fast and low-cost transactions across the globe. Prior to last fall, this service was called On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) but was rebranded to attract new customers.
Bistamp is one of the long-running partners Ripple has been collaborating with regarding its payments service.
Ripple announces historic acquisition
On Feb. 13, Ripple announced its decision perform an acquisition of platform for cryptocurrency assets Standard Custody & Trust Company. This step further emphasizes Ripple’s determination to embrace regulatory compliance. It will enable the fintech behemoth to strengthen its current products and explore new ones.
Ripple is already in possession of almost 40 money transfer licenses across the U.S., a New York BitLicense. Besides, Ripple holds a license from Singapore’s monetary regulator, one issued from the bank of Ireland. The new acquisition will add more of those to the company’s growing portfolio. This is happening while financial institutions around the world are increasing their adoption of cryptocurrency assets from regulated platforms.
Now Ripple and Standard Custody will enable institutions and enterprises to tokenize, store, transfer and exchange value, according to Ripple’s recent press release. Ripple’s president Monica Long commented that the company’s acquisitions will further strengthen their crypto infrastructure solutions.