XRP Ledger Surpasses 7.7 Million Holders for the First Time as Network Activity Hits a Five-Week High

XRP pushed above $1.60 on March 16 before pulling back to $1.5125 at the time of writing, but the more significant development that day was not the price itself.

According to Santiment data, the XRP Ledger recorded 46,767 active addresses on March 16, its highest network activity reading since February 12, while total holders crossed 7.7 million for the first time in the asset’s history.

What the On-Chain Data Shows

The Santiment chart covering February 15 through March 17 tracks two metrics alongside price: daily active addresses and total holder count. The active address reading of 46,767 on March 16 stands out clearly on the chart as a spike well above the baseline activity seen through most of February and early March. Prior peaks in the same period reached similar levels but did not coincide with a simultaneous holder count milestone.

The 7.7 million holder figure is the more structurally significant number. Holder count is a slower-moving metric than active addresses. It does not spike and fade with individual sessions. It accumulates over time as new wallets acquire XRP and hold it. Crossing 7.7 million for the first time means the network’s ownership base has never been broader, even during prior periods when XRP was trading at significantly higher prices.

That combination, peak network activity and a record holder count arriving at the same moment the price breaks above $1.50, is not a coincidence. It reflects genuine user engagement with the network rather than price movement driven purely by derivatives activity or external momentum.

The Price Context

The 4-hour chart on Binance covering March 8 through March 17 shows how the week developed. XRP spent the first half of the period grinding between $1.38 and $1.45, making a local high near $1.44 around March 10 before selling off and retesting the $1.38 to $1.40 range through mid-week. The recovery from that retest was gradual at first, then accelerated sharply on March 16 when the largest volume candle of the entire ten-day period pushed XRP from roughly $1.42 to above $1.53 in a single move.

The session high on March 16 reached $1.60, visible as a long upper wick on the chart, before sellers brought price back toward $1.51 to $1.54 where it has since consolidated. That wick represents profit-taking at the session high rather than a structural rejection. XRP is holding above $1.50 at the time of writing, which keeps the weekly breakout intact even after the pullback from the intraday peak.

Why the Holder Milestone Matters Here

The CryptoQuant open interest data covered in earlier reporting established that XRP’s derivatives market has been largely cleaned out over the past nine months, with open interest falling from $1.75 billion to $484.5 million. That analysis concluded that spot investors now hold primary influence over XRP’s direction, and that a sustainable rally requires genuine spot demand rather than leveraged positioning.

The Santiment holder count crossing 7.7 million is direct evidence of that spot demand materializing. Every new holder represents a wallet that acquired XRP and did not immediately sell it. At the same time as open interest was compressing and leverage was leaving the system, the number of people actually holding XRP was growing to an all-time high. Those two trends running in opposite directions, less speculation and more ownership, describe exactly the kind of market structure that precedes durable price advances rather than volatile short-term squeezes.

The $1.65 weekly close that analyst EGRAG Crypto identified in earlier reporting as the first major confirmation signal for a completed triple bottom formation remains the level to watch. XRP touched $1.60 on March 16 and pulled back. Whether the next attempt clears and holds $1.65 on a weekly basis will determine whether the structural picture described across multiple data sources this week translates into a confirmed trend change.

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