XRP Whale Wallets Hit Record High But Price Slips Below $1.45 Again

Sam DaoduWed, May 13, 2026 at 11:15 PM UTC

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XRP wallets holding 10,000 or more tokens hit an all-time high of 332,230 on May 12, per Santiment data—a trend that has grown uninterrupted since June 2024.

The 10,000 XRP cohort represents roughly the top 5% of XRP holders globally, above retail traders but below institutional whales.

The larger 1M XRP “millionaire wallet” tier added 1.2 billion tokens in Q1—the highest quarterly figure since 2023. Exchange whale outflow dominance on Binance also hit 91.4%, which is the highest reading since 2024.

Despite the on-chain accumulation, XRP slipped back below $1.45 on Wednesday as a 1.16 billion XRP sell wall at $1.44-$1.46 still outweighs the buying ahead of Thursday’s CLARITY Act vote.

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XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) whale wallets just hit an all-time high. 332,230 wallets now hold at least 10,000 tokens, per on-chain analytics firm Santiment. However, XRP slipped back below $1.45, and is currently trading in the $1.42 to $1.45 range and down roughly 2% over the past 24 hours. The whale buying has been building since June 2024, but the XRP price still can't hold above the $1.45 resistance.

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The token still trades 60% below its July 2025 cycle high of $3.65. The bigger catalyst arrives Thursday with the Senate Banking Committee's CLARITY Act markup—what the whales appear to be buying. XRP’s outlook depends almost entirely on the bill’s vote.

Whale Wallet Count Hits 332,230 — A Trend Going Back to June 2024

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Santiment data shows 332,230 wallets now hold at least 10,000 XRP, which is the highest count on record. For scale: out of more than 7.7 million activated XRP addresses, that puts a holder roughly in the top 5% globally. This tier ranks above retail traders but below institutional whales—high-conviction individual investors and smaller funds, not pension money.

The cohort has been growing uninterrupted since June 2024, when XRP traded near $0.50. The whales started buying then, held through the July 2025 cycle peak at $3.65, and have kept buying through the 2026 drawdown.

Moreover, the 23-month run has held through every major market event. Through the August 2025 SEC settlement, the October-March downtrend, and the February crash that briefly cost the cohort 4,500 wallets, the accumulation never paused for long. The cohort added about 15,000 new wallets between November 2025 and May, climbing from roughly 317,000 to 332,230.

As Santiment put it: "Many holders appear willing to accumulate during extreme fear rather than chase momentum."

Whales Added 1.2 Billion Tokens in Q1 — Highest Since 2023

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What’s more is that the 332,230 record is part of a bigger accumulation trend. Wallets holding 1 million or more XRP—the next tier up—have added a net 42 new addresses since the start of 2026, per Santiment.

That's the first increase in millionaire wallets since September 2025. And those 1M+ wallets accumulated 1.2 billion XRP tokens in Q1 2026 alone—the highest quarterly figure since 2023. One specific address added 250 million during a price consolidation phase. This shows the whales are actively building positions through the current market weakness.

Moreso, XRP whale outflow dominance on Binance recently hit 91.4%—the highest reading since 2024. Similar readings in October 2024 preceded XRP's 525% rally from $0.50 to over $3, and the June 2025 reading preceded a 71% climb to the $3.65 cycle high. Across all major centralized exchanges, whale-driven outflows account for 90.5% of activity, while retail flows have dropped to roughly 9%. The pattern is the mirror image of July 2025, when retail dominance peaked at 2% just before the 60% crash.

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Exchange outflows alone aren't proof of accumulation—they can also reflect cold storage moves, custody changes, or OTC repositioning. However, the same trend showing up across all three tiers makes the signal harder to dismiss.

Why the $1.45 Resistance Holds Even as Whales Keep Buying

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XRP slipped below $1.45 today, down roughly 2% in the last 24 hours. About 36.8 billion XRP—roughly 60% of circulating supply—is held at an average cost basis of $1.44, per Glassnode data.

That cluster is densest between $1.44 and $1.46, where roughly 1.16 billion XRP was bought and is now waiting to break even. Every rally to $1.45 runs into the same wall of sellers, with roughly $3 billion in sell orders parked above the level. So, the XRP whale's accumulation hasn't been enough to absorb it.

The whales accumulating on-chain are mostly high-conviction individual investors and smaller funds, not pension funds or sovereign wealth. This also shows in the ratio of XRP ETF investors. About 84% of XRP ETF assets come from retail investors, with only 15.9% from institutional 13F filers, per Bloomberg Intelligence.

For context, Solana ETFs have 48.8% institutional participation—more than three times the rate of XRP ETFs. A recent Coinbase and EY-Parthenon survey of 351 institutional managers found that 25% plan to add XRP in 2026, but 65% named regulatory clarity as the biggest blocker. So, those institutions are the buyers big enough to absorb the $1.45 wall—and they're still waiting on XRP’s permanent regulatory status.

Thursday's CLARITY Act Vote Is What the Whales Are Buying

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The CLARITY Act markup is on Thursday May 14 at 10:30 AM EST. Polymarket odds for the bill’s passage this year has settled at 62%, down from 80% last week. The drop came after banking trade groups rejected a stablecoin compromise on May 9. The bill would codify the SEC and CFTC's joint commodity classification of XRP from March 17 into federal law, giving institutions the legal certainty they need to commit serious capital.

Standard Chartered projects $4 to $8 billion in cumulative XRP ETF inflows by year-end if the CLARITY Act passes. That's 3 to 6 times the entire $1.36 billion cumulative total since XRP ETFs launched in November 2025—a demand shock the current buyer base can't deliver. BlackRock, currently absent from the XRP ETF market, would likely consider filing once total AUM crosses roughly $3 billion (currently $1.18 billion). If XRP gets a permanent digital commodity status, the ETFs could see up to $5 billion in inflows this year alone if institutions deploy capital at scale. The whales accumulating below $1.45 are positioned for exactly this type of capital unlock.

The bill’s passage on Thursday could trigger the demand needed to absorb the $3 billion sell wall above $1.45 and push XRP toward $1.65-$1.80. In a case where the bill stalls in committee, ETF inflows would return to the $5 to $15 million daily baseline, and XRP would retrace to the $1.30-$1.40 range.

Is Whale Accumulation the Smart Money Signal?

Whales are accumulating at a rapid pace but it's not enough to move the XRP price on its own. Every whale tier is buying the same trade—high-conviction holders are positioning for what they believe is coming. However, the supply wall at $1.45 outweighs that buying. For the whales to be right, the institutional money has to follow.

Thursday's CLARITY vote will determine whether the whales were early or wrong. A committee passage will validate the whale bet, and if ETF products see a surge in inflows, then XRP would break above the $1.45 and $1.50 resistance. But the bill stalling would keep XRP trapped in the $1.30 to $1.44 range until a separate bullish catalyst comes along.

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Source: “AOL Money”