Recent moves by Ripple XRP whales have attracted significant attention in the crypto market, with millions of coins offloaded following Ripple’s cross-appeal.
On-chain data revealed that whales have transferred 81 million XRP coins to crypto exchanges over the past 24 hours. While this significant transaction sparked sell-off concerns, XRP remains green, up by more than 2% over the past day.
Whales Dump 81 Million XRP, Sparking Market Concerns
Despite the rising optimism from Ripple’s cross-appeal filing, XRP whales have resumed their selling spree. Data from Whale Alert shows that whales dumped 85.56 million XRP on crypto exchanges.
According to the data, two unknown whale addresses moved 81 million coins to crypto exchanges Bitso and Bybit. The first unknown wallet address, rGd…p1K, transferred 52 million XRP valued at $27.83 million to Bybit.
🚨 🚨 52,000,000 #XRP (27,836,692 USD) transferred from unknown wallet to #Bybithttps://t.co/6ZMvB9OL2N
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) October 11, 2024
The second unknown whale address, r4w…Rzn moved 29.56 million XRP worth approximately $15.62 million to Bitso.
🚨 29,560,000 #XRP (15,621,307 USD) transferred from unknown wallet to #Bitsohttps://t.co/Hn0M3cmjpj
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) October 10, 2024
These transactions have sparked concerns of potential selling pressure as the long-running legal battle between the US SEC and Ripple escalates.
Notably, Ripple, the blockchain payment company behind XRP, has submitted a notice of its cross-appeal of the final judgment in the securities lawsuit.
While the firm’s legal maneuver is expected to bolster investor optimism and confidence, the recent whale offloads paint a contrasting picture. Typically, whales dumping tokens on crypto exchanges often cause supply overhand that could exert selling pressure on a token.
Meanwhile, the crypto derivatives exchange Bitnominal has filed a lawsuit against the US SEC. This Bitnominal case stems from the existing conflict between the SEC and Ripple. Following Judge Torres’ final ruling in the SEC/Ripple lawsuit in August, Bitnominal requested approval to list XRP/USD futures contracts.
However, after the application, the SEC contacted Bitnominal, claiming that XRP futures fall under the CFTC and SEC regulatory purview. The commission demanded that it register as a national securities exchange before offering XRP futures.
Consequently, Bitnominal sued the agency for overreaching its regulatory power on XRP futures contracts. This legal maneuver has bolstered the support for XRP as the crypto community lambasts the SEC for its aggressive regulatory approach.
How Is Ripple XRP Faring Today?
While some dread a significant price dip for XRP, the token has shown resilience. XRP trades around $0.540, with an over 2% price increase in the last 24 hours.
Also, XRP has gained 2.28% in the seven-day timeframe, suggesting that market participants are still bullish on the token despite the massive whale offloads.
Moreover, according to Coinglass data, the token’s futures Open Interest (OI) increased by almost 4% over the past 24 hours to reach $711.55 million. In addition, XRP derivatives volume soared over 93% to reach $1.37 billion, while options OI soared over 4% to $856,000.
The increase in OI and derivatives volume highlights growing investor interest in the token. Many are optimistic that Ripple will secure victory against the SEC in the upcoming appeal proceedings.
