XRP Dips 4.5% Amid Two Major Ripple Price Concerns

Market Downturn Hits Ripple’s XRP, Raising Concerns

Ripple’s cross-border token, XRP, has not been immune to the broader market weakness, which may be attributed to the latest Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting or concerns that a company named Strategy might need to divest more Bitcoin to cover dividend payments.

The digital asset has seen a significant decline, falling by over 4% in the last 24 hours and a substantial 18% over the past month. After facing resistance at the $1.30 mark earlier this week, XRP is now struggling to maintain its position above $1.10. However, emerging indicators suggest a more significant downturn could be on the horizon.

Historically, Ripple whales have played a pivotal role in the project’s investment ecosystem, reportedly controlling close to 70% of the total XRP supply. Recent data from CryptoQuant had reinforced a bullish sentiment, with analysts observing that these large holders had refrained from selling despite a dip in XRP’s price.

However, a more disquieting statistic was shared by Ali Martinez earlier today. Citing information from Santiment, Martinez reported that XRP whales have distributed, or likely sold, over 30 million tokens in the past five days alone, leading to a reduction in their total holdings to approximately 3.78 billion XRP. Such actions by the largest investor cohort not only amplify immediate selling pressure but also risk prompting smaller market participants to follow suit.

Network Activity Declines Sharply

A second major warning sign stems from a notable decrease in network usage. Data from the same sources indicates that XRP network activity has plummeted by nearly 50% over the last two weeks. The number of active addresses has fallen from around 50,000 to approximately 25,000. A visual representation of this sharp decline shows days with fewer than 25,000 active wallets.

The sole consistent positive for Ripple’s native token remains the sustained institutional interest in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track its performance. Even during weeks when Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs experienced significant net outflows, spot XRP ETFs have managed to buck the bearish trend, remaining in positive territory.

The past four trading days have continued this pattern. Data from SoSoValue reveals net inflows of $2.82 million on Monday, $5.30 million on Tuesday, and $2.55 million on Thursday, with no significant activity reported on Wednesday. This has pushed the cumulative net inflows to a new all-time high of $1.45 billion.