$160M XRP Shuffle Sparks Confusion

A bizarre on-chain event has sparked confusion across the XRP community today.

In a span of just 62 minutes, a massive stash of 73 million XRP was transferred between five different anonymous wallets. 

The entire sum was valued at $151.3 million at the time of the transfer. 

The on-chain “hot potato”

XRP researcher Leonidas Hadjiloizou has jokingly commented that nobody wants this massive number of tokens. 

The fact that the entire lump sum is kept intact indicates that this is a security protocol or liquidity routing by a single large entity. This is likely an exchange or custodian. 

XRP is currently changing hands at $2.07. 

Other recent transfers

Earlier this year, the XRP Ledger recorded a series of rapid-fire transfers between anonymous entities. On Jan. 8, trackers captured four distinct transactions ranging from 68 million to over 68.1 million XRP each, moving roughly $585 million in a single day between unknown wallets. 

This pattern continued into the weekend, with another 60 million XRPs (worth roughly $125.6 million) being transferred on Jan. 10. 

These “unknown to unknown” transfers typically represent internal housekeeping by large exchanges, over-the-counter (OTC) desk settlements, or private whales consolidating holdings.