XRP is down 43 percent so far in 2026, but whales holding 10 million to 100 million tokens have sharply increased their holdings.

The Crypto Basic, a blockchain outlet, reported on Aug. 7 that Santiment on-chain data showed the combined holdings of these wallets rose by 1.23 billion XRP since the start of the year.

These wallets held 10.97 billion XRP in early 2026, and current holdings are estimated at 12.2 billion XRP. At the current price of $1.04, the newly added amount this year is worth about $1.2792 billion. Valued at XRP’s all-time high of $3.66, recorded in July 2025, the same amount is worth about $4.5 billion.

The accumulation did not happen all at once. These whales bought more than 2.4 billion tokens in November 2025 alone, increasing holdings from 8.4 billion XRP to more than 10.8 billion XRP. As XRP came under pressure, the pace of buying slowed. Holdings topped 11.0 billion XRP in December 2025, then edged down to 10.97 billion XRP in early 2026.

This year, a renewed accumulation trend began in March and continued at a gradual but steady pace. Combined holdings of these wallets hit a record 12.27 billion XRP on July 8. Some supply later came to market, pulling the figure down to 12.2 billion XRP, but it remains up sharply from the start of the year.

Changes in the number of addresses also show the increase in holdings was not solely the result of additional buying by existing whales. The number of addresses holding 10 million to 100 million XRP rose to 313 from 301 at the start of the year. The figure fell to 285 in mid-February before recovering, rose to 322 in early July, and then retreated to the current level.

Still, the number of addresses in this range remains below the record high of 351 set in October 2025. Even so, the increase to 313 from 301 indicates some wallets newly entered this holding bracket.

Other large holding brackets showed different trends. Whales holding 100 million to 1 billion XRP reduced holdings to 8.13 billion XRP from 8.43 billion at the start of the year, putting 300 million XRP onto the market this year. By contrast, wallets holding 1 million to 10 million XRP added 260 million XRP over the period and now hold 3.83 billion XRP.

"Shark" holders with 100,000 to 1 million XRP also cut holdings. The combined balance of these wallets fell to 6.37 billion XRP from 6.43 billion at the start of the year.

In the end, not all large holders in the XRP market moved in the same direction this year. The 10 million to 100 million XRP bracket kept accumulating despite the sharp price drop, while the 100 million to 1 billion XRP bracket and the 100,000 to 1 million XRP bracket reduced holdings. This suggests that future assessments of XRP supply and demand will focus not only on price swings, but also on address counts by holding bracket and changes in cumulative balances.