[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong] Even as XRP prices remain weak for an extended period, retail investor participation appears to be expanding.

On Feb. 4 (local time), blockchain outlet The Crypto Basic reported that about 81 percent of all XRP wallets hold fewer than 500 XRP. This suggests the retail investor base remains solid despite the price decline.

On-chain data put the total number of XRP wallets at 7,573,624. That is an increase of more than about 520,000 new wallets since the fourth quarter of 2025. Over the same period, XRP slid from about $2.8 to $1.57, a 44 percent drop, but wallet numbers kept rising.

Data from a community-based XRP rich list platform show that about 1 million new addresses were created from January to October 2025, bringing total wallets to 7.05 million. Even after a full-fledged downturn began in the fourth quarter of 2025, wallets increased by more than another 520,000.

This shows that interest in and access to the XRP network itself have not slowed, unlike the price moves. Some in the market describe it as a "gap between price and the user base."

The distribution of wallet balances makes the nature of retail participation clearer. About 6,187,166 wallets, or about 81 percent of all XRP wallets, hold less than 500 XRP. Among them, 3,637,000 wallets hold only 0 to 20 XRP, and 2.55 million wallets fall in the 20 to 500 XRP range.

These figures suggest broad retail investor participation. Small investors want exposure to XRP even with limited amounts. Some interpret this broad user base as the reason Mike Novogratz (마이크 노보그라츠), CEO of Galaxy Digital, has repeatedly mentioned the strength of the XRP community.

But in terms of actual holdings, retail investors have limited influence. The combined amount held by wallets with less than 500 XRP is about 242.19 million XRP, just 0.24 percent of total supply of about 99 billion XRP.

By contrast, a large share of XRP supply is concentrated in a very small number of large wallets. There are 2,004 wallets holding at least 1 million XRP, about 0.026 percent of all wallets, but they hold a total of 48.7 billion XRP. That equals about 48.7 percent of total supply.

This concentration in a small number of wallets shows a double-sided aspect of the XRP ecosystem. Large-scale selling by a small number of wallets could shock the market and act as a centralisation risk. If those wallets belong to institutions or long-term investors, it could also be positive for price stability and resilience. Some analysis also says institutional investors are less likely than retail investors to resort to panic selling during sharp declines, which could help defend the market.

Ultimately, the XRP market is maintaining a structure in which millions of small investors form the base and a tiny number of large wallets control the actual supply. Prices are weak, but network participation itself is expanding, and views on how the market will develop are divided.