[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong (홍진주)] Signs were detected that about 6.3 million XRP moved in a large transfer from Upbit to a single wallet and was then dispersed again to multiple exchange addresses. The market initially focused on the possibility of large-scale accumulation by a whale investor, but some analysis now says the subsequent flow is closer to a reshuffling of funds between exchanges.

On May 6 (local time), blockchain outlet The Crypto Basic reported the moved amount was worth about $8.8 million at the time. Based on on-chain data platform Bithomp, the transaction occurred at about 1:23 p.m. on May 5, and the address 'r3bqvUf' received 6.3 million XRP from Upbit. Bithomp classified the address as "unidentified."

As the large amount of XRP left the exchange, circulating supply on Upbit temporarily declined. In general, moving funds to wallets outside an exchange is sometimes interpreted as possible accumulation for long-term holding. In this case, however, the flow later spread out quickly, showing a different pattern from simple whale accumulation.

The wallet's remaining balance is currently about 119,800 XRP, far below the initial inflow. That is because consecutive transfers to multiple addresses continued immediately after the 6.3 million XRP arrived.

Additional on-chain flows show the address broadly dispersed the received XRP to multiple destinations. Confirmed recipients included major exchange addresses such as Binance, Bybit, Bitget and Gate.io. Some of the amount also appears to have moved to external wallets whose owners have not yet been identified.

The industry is placing more weight on the possibility that the address served as a kind of intermediary rather than a true storage wallet. The outlet analysed it as possibly serving as a simple funnel. That means a specific entity gathered assets into one address and then redistributed them to multiple destinations.

The source of the address also drew market attention. XRPScan 표시 showed the address was activated by the 'rEdP7w' account, which is known to be linked to Bittrex, a cryptocurrency exchange that later went bankrupt. Bittrex supported XRP trading until it filed for bankruptcy in 2023.

For this reason, some in the market are also raising the possibility that the move was part of a process of reshuffling exchange-held assets rather than new whale accumulation. However, no clear ownership structure has been confirmed so far, and related analysis remains at the estimation stage.

The market is also focusing on the timing of the transfer. The large move coincided with a rebound in XRP's price. XRP rose about 1.95 percent over the past 24 hours, and posted weekly gains in the 3 percent range. The current price is about $1.43, about 27 percent above its February low.

Still, the rebound lags bitcoin. A trend was also observed in which funds have stayed more in bitcoin rather than rotating into large altcoins. In this situation, some technical analysis has pointed out that XRP's Bollinger Band width has narrowed to the tightest in years, highlighting the possibility of higher volatility ahead.

Ultimately, analysis says the 6.3 million XRP move was closer to a complex flow of funds that went beyond a simple exchange withdrawal and continued to multiple exchanges and external wallets. The market is expected to gauge the real intent through the final destinations and whether further moves occur.