Coinbase's presence in XRP has almost disappeared. At the start of summer, the exchange held around 970 million XRP across 52 cold wallets. Ten of these wallets held approximately 26.8 million coins each, while the remaining wallets held a further 16.8 million.
Three months later, only four of those wallets are still active, each holding around 16.4 million XRP, according to XRPWallets. This equates to approximately 65.6 million XRP remaining — less than 7% of the total held in June.
More than 900 million XRP have moved out of Coinbase’s active storage in under 90 days, worth close to $2.8 billion at its current price.
Just this past weekend, a transfer of 16.5 million XRP — equivalent to $51.4 million — passed through the exchange, demonstrating that large transactions are ongoing even as the old wallets continue to empty.
What's behind Coinbase's XRP shuffle?
Overall, 48 of Coinbase’s 52 tracked wallets are now inactive. On-chain observers point out that this does not necessarily mean that the coins are leaving the platform completely. They could just as easily be transferred into new wallets that have not been identified yet as part of regular custody restructuring.
However, given the size of these transactions, some are wondering if institutions are absorbing the coins. One theory is that large players — possibly even companies such as BlackRock — could be using Coinbase's infrastructure to build positions for clients without leaving a public trail.
Whatever the case may be, the numbers speak for themselves. Coinbase’s visible stack has been cut down sharply, from nearly a one billion XRP in June to under 70 million now.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team