Ripple attracted attention in the crypto scene early today, dispatching massive XRP tokens to an anonymous destination amid the approaching SEC settlement.
Community surveillance service Whale Alert first drew public attention to Ripple’s transaction. The post revealed that Ripple transferred 150 million XRP, valued at approximately $64.29 million, to wallet “rP4X2hTa7A.”
🚨 🚨 🚨 150,000,000 #XRP (64,287,206 USD) transferred from #Ripple to unknown wallethttps://t.co/nt65t65klk
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) July 9, 2024
Blockchain record shows that the recipient’s wallet unloaded 50 million XRP tokens within three minutes of the inflow to another nameless address.
Is the 150M XRP Linked to the Impending SEC Settlement?
Ripple’s decision to dispatch 150 million XRP to an anonymous wallet has elicited various reactions from community members. Some wonder why such a massive movement of XRP originated from Ripple, and some are curious about where the transaction has any bearing on the concluding SEC lawsuit.
Notably, Ripple and the SEC are still disputing the settlement amount the American firm should pay to atone for its violation of federal securities law. The regulator has demanded about $2 billion, while Ripple thinks $10 million is appropriate.
Both parties have presented their cases before District Court Judge Analisa Torres. Legal experts like Fred Rispoli have suggested that Judge Torres will issue her decision on the suit on 13 or 31 of this month.
Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the 150 million XRP Ripple offloaded to an external address today is part of its monthly sales. Recall that the payment unlocked 1 billion XRP from escrow on July 1, reserved 200 million, and re-locked 800 million tokens.
The recipient “rP4X2hTa7A” has been the channel Ripple often leveraged to dump XRP tokens each month. For instance, Ripple dumped 400 million XRP from the June escrow unlock to this anonymous address.
Other Entities Move about 400M XRP
Meanwhile, Ripple is not the only prominent entity that has unloaded enormous XRP tokens to unknown addresses within the last 24 hours. The most prominent crypto trading platform, Binance, has similarly dispatched 300,000,000 XRP valued at $130,132,907 to an unidentified wallet.
This transaction has triggered bearish fears among community members about its impact on the price of XRP.
🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 300,000,000 #XRP (130,132,907 USD) transferred from #Binance to unknown wallethttps://t.co/kloHJ85eMi
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) July 8, 2024
However, Binance did not stop at that transaction. Two hours ago, the exchange again transferred 52.1 million XRP to another anonymous wallet, bringing the total from Binance alone to 352.1 million.
Whale Alert also indexed a dispatch of 35.35 million XRP from the Bitstamp exchange to an unknown destination a few hours ago. Regardless of the continuous movements of XRP by influential entities, XRP posted a 2% price gain today.