When such staggering amounts of any cryptocurrency are transferred in such a small space of time, it immediately causes concerns within the community. Especially one with such a fierce devotion as those involved with Ripple.
Former CEO Chris Larsen, who was recently named in Forbes list of Billionaires for 2020, moved 10 million XRP yesterday. Soon after, the largest crypto exchange Binance moved 30 million coins and Ripplenet’s ODL partner, Mexican Bitso, moved an even larger amount that came close to 40 million.
Other participants were BitGo, Bitstamp and several anonymous wallets whose identity cannot be verified.
Chris Larsen, who recently made public his recovery from the COVID-19 virus, has not yet released a statement explaining why an amount of XRP that approaches 160 million would be transferred, and many suspect that this move is related to the upcoming Bitcoin Halvening, expected to take place next month. It is worth noting however, that after his recovery he urged anyone who has fought off the virus to donate blood containing the antibodies.
Thank you to everyone on the frontlines keeping us safe – am truly grateful to report that I’ve made a full recovery from #COVID19. If you’ve recovered from the virus, please consider donating your blood to help with antibody transplants: https://t.co/icm06Et5fr pic.twitter.com/331Mjv43Z6
— Chris Larsen (@chrislarsensf) April 2, 2020
The ‘whales’, as they are often referred to, moving such large quantities of cryptocurrency around is not unusual, especially when it comes to Ripple. Last year, around 138 million XRP was transferred between exchanges, causing the value to take a brief nosedive.
Each time these market influencers begin to move such vast quantities of crypto around, it raises many questions and causes a degree of unease within the community.
Since the company themselves have large holdings of XRP, Ripple has already come under suspicion for manipulating the XRP market before, with community members actually raising a petition to stop the mass selling of the currency and diluting the supply.
Current CEO Brad Garlinghouse defended those moves at the time by stating:
“XRP sales are about helping expand XRP’s utility. Reality is we DECREASED our sales volume Q/Q and since then the inflation rate of XRP circulating supply has been lower than that of BTC and ETH.”
Now, Ripple’s community are once again in a position of uncertainty, wondering what would cause such actions, and exactly who is behind them.