XRP Whales Are Moving Coins Off Exchanges Faster Than Retail Holders, New Data Shows

XRP whales are moving coins off centralized exchanges at a more pronounced pace than retail users, suggesting large-scale accumulation.

Notably, the gap in activity between these two classes of XRP holders has widened significantly over the past weeks, data from CryptoQuant shows. The data, shared by verified author Amr Taha, tracks the 7-day moving average of the XRP Whale vs. Retail Spread. 

Per the analysis, whale-sized withdrawals have become increasingly dominant across centralized exchanges. The all-CEX reading rose from 26.0% on May 6 to 50.9% on June 29, an increase of 24.9% points.

XRP Whales Moving Tokens from Exchanges

For context, the Whale vs. Retail Spread measures the difference between XRP outflows from transfers exceeding 100,000 XRP and those involving 100,000 XRP or less. A higher reading indicates that large holders account for a greater share of exchange withdrawals compared with retail participants.

As such, the 24.9% increase suggests that there have been more whale transfer activities across all exchanges than retail holders. Essentially, while retailers are on the sidelines amid the price uncertainty, large holders are moving XRP more prominently off exchanges.

Nonetheless, the data does not reveal why whales are withdrawing XRP or where they are ultimately moving the coins. Large transfers could reflect movements to self-custody wallets, institutional custody restructuring, or other operational activity.

However, recent on-chain data suggests the recent shift could be to self-custody wallets. According to the data, there has been an uptick in active receiving addresses on the XRP Ledger, showing that more unique wallets are actively becoming recipients of the coin across the network.

Binance XRP Whale Activity Declines

While whale withdrawals have become more prominent across the wider exchange market, Binance has experienced a different pattern.

The exchange’s Whale vs. Retail Spread declined from 62.0% on June 11 to 44.6% on June 29, a drop of 17.4% points. That places Binance 6.3% points below the broader all-exchange average of 50.9%.

The figures suggest that although whales continue moving XRP off exchanges more actively than retail users overall, those transfers are becoming less concentrated on Binance and increasingly distributed across other centralized platforms.

Binance is the largest crypto exchange by trading volume and one of the largest sources of XRP trading activities. However, whales appear to be moving on from the platform to other similar exchanges, reflected in the drop in Binance’s share of the recent large-scale XRP transfer activity.