A huge XRP transfer by Ripple Labs Inc. Co-Founder and former CEO Chris Larsen has sparked concern about a potential selloff. Whale Alert first uncovered a crypto wallet linked to the 64-year-old American business executive who allegedly transferred 50 million XRP.
This transfer is allegedly the first initiated by the Ripple executive after 11 years of inactivity.
Price Reacts to Larsen’s Transfer
Based on the coin’s current market value, the transfer is worth approximately $29 million. It is noteworthy that the 50 million XRP sent to an unknown wallet represents only 10% of the total XRP in Chris Larsen’s wallet.
The new wallet with the address “raorBmbz..” was activated by another wallet marked “rhREXVHV.” Currently, it holds approximately 50 million XRP. The sudden transfer immediately triggered the price to register a 4% rally in 24 hours.
The crypto asset traded at $0.5845 after gaining about 2.38% within this defined time span. Its trading volume also increased by 14.1%, and with a figure of $1.17 billion, XRP is currently the market’s eighth most traded crypto asset.
This reflects an increasing interest in the coin amongst traders. As the seventh largest cryptocurrency, the coin has a market capitalization of $32.96 billion.
This latest transfer comes only two weeks after an unknown wallet unlocked 300 million XRP from escrow. At the time, the transferred funds were worth roughly $167.9 million, but with market dynamics, they are now worth about $175.3 million.
Such escrow events are perceived as Ripple’s strategy of providing additional liquidity to the market. Often, the expectation is that they will improve the coin’s price.
Ripple Transfer, The Kamala Harris Link
It is rare for whales like Chris Larsen to make related transfers. Notably, it might be established that this transfer is not related to the aforementioned escrow movements.
Some netizens suspect he may be planning to donate the coin to Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. He is one of the 88 current and former American top executives who recently endorsed her for President.
Brad Garlinghouse’s and Larsen’s support for Harris are two of the most shocking for the crypto ecosystem. As leaders at the forefront of crypto and blockchain technology, the crypto community members expected these Ripple executives would support a more pro-crypto candidate. Unfortunately, their choices reflect the diversity in the broader Web3 ecosystem.
XRP And XRPL Sees Increase
Meanwhile, XRP and the XRP Ledger have seen increased use cases these past weeks, owing largely to the clarity that XRP is not security in itself. Last week, asset management firm Grayscale announced the launch of its XRP Trust.
The move suggested that institutional players are slowly showcasing interest. Like the other Grayscale Trusts for GBTC ETHE, the XRP Trust is focused on boosting institutional participation in the asset class. Trust funds usually have a lighter regulatory touch compared to Exchange-traded Funds (ETFs). Ultimately, the expectation is that an XRP ETF might emerge in the market
In the first week of September, XRPL set a key DeFi milestone as its Total Value Locked (TVL) rebounded from previous lows. As of writing, DeFiLlama data showed that XRPL’s TVL was at $14.67 million.
