[DigitalToday reporter Yoonseo Lee] XRP has posted the biggest decline in a recent slide in the cryptocurrency market, deepening investor concerns.

On Feb. 6 (local time), blockchain media outlet The Crypto Basic reported that XRP at one point fell 13.31 percent on a weekly basis, showing a drop similar to ether's 15 percent fall. Its losses were larger than BNB's 12 percent and Cardano's 8 percent declines.

XRP at one point struggled to hold the $1.3 support level. Experts said large whales were deliberately pushing the price down as XRP is seen as a threat to bitcoin and ether. Vincent Van Code (빈센트 반 코드), a software engineer and XRP community figure, claimed, "Because XRP is seen as the biggest threat, whales appear to be moving to suppress it."

XRP's market value fell below $100 billion on Feb. 1, and $133 billion has evaporated from its peak of $216 billion in July 2025. By contrast, BNB, despite being larger than XRP, posted losses of $12 billion, while Cardano recorded a $1.48 billion loss. Claims have also emerged that a sharp fall in the XRP/bitcoin pair is due to whales shifting funds. Van Code added, "This is pure manipulation, but it will also be very costly for them."

Some analysts also say large investors, including Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) (창펑 자오), are moving to maintain bitcoin's dominance. CZ previously said 98.5 percent of his portfolio is BNB, while bitcoin accounts for just 1.3 percent. Van Code, however, claimed, "Bitcoin maximalism is highly toxic," adding, "XRP is gradually expanding its foothold."

Some in the market also urge caution, noting that the "whale intervention" theory has not been confirmed as fact. In volatile markets, certain tokens have repeatedly swung more sharply than others, and declines can widen when short-term supply-demand factors and sentiment interact. In particular, when key support levels break, stop-loss selling and the unwinding of leveraged positions can combine to accelerate price falls at once.

For now, the key points to watch for XRP are whether it can regain support levels and whether the XRP/bitcoin pair shows further weakness. Investors are also watching flows from large wallets, changes in trading volume and whether overall market risk appetite recovers.