Coinbase's XRP has fallen almost 90% in just three months, according to new information from XRPWallets. At the beginning of the summer, the leading U.S. crypto exchange held around 970 million XRP in 52 cold wallets. Ten of these held 26.8 million coins each, and the rest held another 16.8 million combined. This made Coinbase one of the largest visible holders of XRP in the market.
But then something switched, and now, by the middle of September, only six cold wallets are still active, each with about 16.5 million XRP, leaving the total close to 99 million, a level not seen in years.
This is an 89.79% drop from June, which happened against the background of consistent transfers between Coinbase and unknown wallets all summer.
One of those, like the 16.5 million XRP worth $51.4 million that moved into Coinbase, happened just this weekend, sparking further debate among traders.
Where XRP going?
Some may think that big companies and institutions like BlackRock might be buying XRP through Coinbase for their own customers, but nothing is known for sure.
The on-chain data only shows balances leaving the exchange, not where the coins go after they leave cold storage or how they might be used later.
Amid all this, XRP remains the third largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin and Ethereum, with a market value of around $183 billion.
This makes it even more surprising that Coinbase's role in storing XRP becomes much smaller, as it raises questions about whether coins are being moved into new custody solutions, private vaults, or alternative trading routes.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team