Ripple Co-founder’s $9B XRP Wallet: The Billion-Dollar Question for Crypto Markets

An XRP wallet linked to Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen still holds a staggering $9 billion in unsold tokens—enough to make even Bitcoin whales nervous.

Here's why this matters:

The sleeping giant: With XRP's price hovering at $0.50, this single wallet represents nearly 20% of the cryptocurrency's total circulating supply. One sell order could send shockwaves through exchanges.

Ripple's shadow treasury: While Ripple claims operational independence from Larsen's holdings, the market clearly watches this wallet like hawk-eyed traders monitoring Fed balance sheets.

Timing is everything: The wallet's movements have historically preceded major price swings. When the co-founder sneezes, XRP traders reach for their stop-loss orders.

Bonus cynicism: In traditional finance, this would be called 'insider concentration risk.' In crypto? Just another Tuesday.

TLDR

• Chris Larsen’s wallet linked to Ripple co-founder moved nearly 60 million XRP to exchanges since July 15, worth about $200 million
• The wallet still holds 282.49 million XRP valued at $897 million, part of Larsen’s total 2.58 billion XRP stash worth $8.21 billion
• XRP hit near all-time highs above $3.60 on July 17 but dropped 13% following the large transfers
• Analysts warn the recent sales could be just the beginning, with billions more XRP potentially available for selling
• Eight wallets suspected to belong to Larsen collectively hold $8.21 billion in XRP, raising concerns about future selling pressure

Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen has moved close to 60 million XRP tokens to cryptocurrency exchanges since July 15. The transfers come as XRP reached new price highs before pulling back from recent gains.

Onchain data shows the activity originated from wallet 5, one of eight wallets believed to belong to Larsen. The wallet initially held 500 million XRP but now contains 282.49 million tokens worth approximately $897 million.

The selling activity began with a small test transaction of 1.6 XRP sent to Coinbase on July 15. This was followed by four separate transfers of 2 million XRP each to the same exchange over the following days.

Onchain detective ZachXBT first highlighted the large transfers on Thursday. He noted that $140 million worth of XRP ended up at exchanges and services since July 17.

Since July 17, 2025 an address linked to Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen transferred out 50M XRP ($175M) to four addresses.

~$140M ended up at exchanges/services

30M XRP recipient
rPS9kVPbgZF4vXq2hs6s9Xv2754qdRau98
rnQXgGAjqbF4KoBpcBK5YBHyZEL7nGWWoi
10M XRP recipient…

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) July 24, 2025

XRP reached NEAR all-time highs above $3.60 on July 17. The token has since corrected 13% and currently trades around $3.18 following the large outflows from Larsen’s wallet.

Larsen’s Massive XRP Holdings

Larsen controls eight different wallets tagged 1 through 8 on blockchain explorer xrpscan.com. Wallets 1 through 4 each hold slightly more than 500 million XRP and have never made outbound transfers.

Wallet 6 stores 300.18 million XRP, while wallet 7 carries just 21.79 XRP. The eighth wallet holds exactly 1,000,009 XRP tokens.

Collectively, Larsen’s eight wallets still contain 2.58 billion XRP worth about $8.21 billion at current prices. This represents one of the largest individual XRP holdings known to exist.

The recent activity from wallet 5 follows earlier movements in June. On June 16, the wallet sent 1.5 million XRP to Coinbase, and additional transfers occurred throughout that month.

Some XRP also went to an address labeled “rHtLaipqqfbhg,” which may be linked to an exchange, over-the-counter desk, or institutional buyer. The exact destination and purpose of these transfers remains unclear.

Market Concerns Over Future Sales

Analysts have raised concerns that the recent XRP sales could represent just the beginning of larger liquidations. J.A. Maartunn from CryptoQuant warned XRP holders about potential selling pressure.

“Chris Larsen still holds 2.58B XRP — that’s $8.83B,” Maartunn wrote on social media. “If $200M was just the warm-up… what’s next?”

🚨 Chris Larsen (Ripple co-founder) still holds 2.58B $XRP — that’s $8.83B.

If $200M was just the warm-up… what’s next?

Don’t get dumped on.
Don’t be the exit liquidity.
Protect yourself. 👇 https://t.co/k152FXlm8N pic.twitter.com/T5CpTQjdDa

— Maartunn (@JA_Maartun) July 25, 2025

The analyst cautioned investors not to become “exit liquidity” and advised them to protect themselves from potential future dumps. Other market participants have echoed similar warnings about the size of Larsen’s remaining holdings.

Larsen previously faced security issues with his XRP holdings. On January 30, 2024, hackers drained roughly 213 million XRP from his wallets in a breach reportedly linked to the 2022 LastPass security failure.

Ripple Co-Founders’ XRP Legacy

Ripple’s co-founders accumulated massive XRP reserves during the token’s early development. Jed McCaleb, another co-founder, is believed to have liquidated much of his early holdings over time through structured selling agreements.

Larsen’s recent wallet activity raises questions about his long-term strategy for the XRP holdings. The transfers could represent strategic reallocations, planned liquidations, or responses to market conditions.

The timing of the sales coincided with XRP’s rally to multi-year highs, suggesting possible profit-taking behavior. However, the scale of remaining holdings means future market impact could be substantial if additional sales occur.

Wallet 5 continues to show the most activity among Larsen’s addresses, while the other seven wallets remain largely dormant. The first four wallets have never recorded any outbound transactions since their creation.