[Digital Today reporter Jinju Hong] While XRP has fallen more than 25 percent over the past four months, large addresses holding at least 1 million XRP bought additional XRP worth about $1 billion.

Decrypto, a blockchain outlet, reported on Aug. 12 local time that on-chain data showed the total holdings of these addresses have increased by 970 million XRP since April.

By Santiment’s tally, the combined balance of addresses holding at least 1 million XRP now stands at 50.24 billion XRP. That is more than 80 percent of XRP’s circulating supply of 62.67 billion tokens. It means large holders control a significant portion of the XRP currently in the market.

By holding bracket, addresses with at least 1 billion XRP accounted for the largest share. This group holds 26.07 billion XRP, or 51.9 percent of the total balance held by addresses with at least 1 million XRP. Next were the 10 million to 100 million XRP bracket with 12.11 billion XRP, the 100 million to 1 billion XRP bracket with 8.2 billion XRP, and the 1 million to 10 million XRP bracket with 3.86 billion XRP.

The largest increase came from addresses holding 10 million to 100 million XRP. Their holdings rose from 11.38 billion XRP in mid-April to 12.11 billion XRP now, an additional 730 million XRP. That accounted for about 75 percent of the total increase. Addresses holding at least 1 billion XRP also increased from 25.84 billion XRP to 26.07 billion XRP over the period, adding 230 million XRP.

Not all large addresses moved in the same direction. The 1 million to 10 million XRP bracket increased by about 140 million XRP, but the 100 million to 1 billion XRP bracket reduced holdings by 110 million XRP. Even so, the total for addresses holding at least 1 million XRP rose from 49.27 billion XRP on April 12 to 50.24 billion XRP now.

Price moved in the opposite direction to the increase in holdings. XRP began trading at $1.35 on April 12 and fell 2.22 percent that day. It then rebounded to $1.54 on May 14 but did not sustain the rise. On June 6 it fell to $1.0499, marking the year’s low at the time, and later recovered to $1.29, but that range acted as resistance.

XRP then fell again to $1.008 on June 26, setting a new yearly low. The rebound did not last, and after recent declines the price fell back to around $1.01. That amounts to a drop of more than 25 percent compared with four months ago.

Even so, large holders continued buying. In particular, addresses holding at least 1 million XRP added 970 million XRP over about four months, worth close to $1 billion at current prices. Concentration of holdings among large addresses has increased despite weaker prices.

Attention is therefore expected to focus on whether large addresses continue accumulating, and when this expansion in holdings will begin moving in the same direction as XRP’s price trend.