Who is behind this rally?

TL:DR;

XRP continues to make headlines, with another notable surge pushing its price past $2.7 for the first time in nearly seven years. Chain data has attributed this mind-boggling monthly rally to whales hoarding the asset, primarily Coinbase.

It almost feels like a repeat now when it comes to XRP price action over the past month and since Sunday in particular, but there is a lot going on around the asset.

Remember, just yesterday, Ripple’s native token was trading around $1.9. However, it first exploded above $2.2, as reported, before shooting up to $2.5 for the first time since January 2018.

During the market-wide pullback from earlier Monday, it fell back to $2.2, but the bulls re-accelerated and started another massive rally.

This time, the price of XRP soared to $2.75, which became a new local peak. Moreover, the cryptocurrency was only 23% away from its all-time high of $3.4 (CoinGecko data).

XRPUSD. Source: TradingView

Despite pulling back a bit to under $2.7 now, XRP is still up more than 420% in the past month. This increase has pushed its market capitalization well past $150 billion, cementing its place as the third largest cryptocurrency by this metric.

Many reports claimed that this rally was mainly driven by whales who amassed substantial portions of the asset. CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju confirmed this narrative, but also shed some light, noting that the bulk of the purchase was made on Coinbase.

This makes sense because of the expected political change in the United States following Donald Trump’s presidential election victory and Gary Gensler’s announcement that he will step down as chairman of the SEC in January.

Coinbase whales are driving this $XRP concentration

Over the past 30 days, Coinbase’s minute-level price premium has ranged from 3% to 13% during the surge.

Meanwhile, Upbit, a Korean exchange with more XRP investors than Binance, has not shown any significant premium so far. pic.twitter.com/ENESB2Zrkv

— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) December 2, 2024

SPECIAL OFFER (Sponsored) Binance Free $600 (Exclusive to CryptoPotato): Use this link to register a new account and receive an exclusive welcome offer of $600 to Binance (full details).

LIMITED OFFER for CryptoPotato readers on Bybit – Use this link to register and open a FREE $500 position with any currency!