XRP withdrawal transactions on cryptocurrency exchanges have climbed to their highest share since 2019, according to on-chain data, even as the token's price remains pinned near the $1 level. Withdrawals accounted for 56.85% of Binance's seven-day average XRP transaction mix and 54.9% across centralized exchanges broadly, while deposits on Binance fell to just 43.13% — the lowest deposit share recorded since 2019.
The divergence between falling price and rising withdrawal activity has drawn attention from on-chain analysts, who argue the pattern more closely resembles accumulation than capitulation. XRP was trading around $1.00 at the time of writing, down 0.49% over 24 hours, with trading volume slipping 14% to $863.7 million.
Whales Are Doing the Heavy Lifting
The withdrawal surge is concentrated almost entirely among large holders rather than retail. XRPL wallets holding at least 1 million XRP now number roughly 2,038, collectively controlling 12.18 billion tokens, and added another 72 million tokens in a single 24-hour stretch. Separate Santiment on-chain data shows large holders added more than 380 million XRP in the week to August 9 alone, pushing combined whale balances above 8 billion tokens worth roughly $8.2 billion at current prices — with around 81% of Binance withdrawals traced back to these large wallets rather than smaller retail accounts.
Large withdrawals from exchanges typically indicate tokens are being moved into private wallets or cold storage for longer-term holding, a pattern generally read as reduced near-term selling pressure rather than an intent to sell.
Related: SHIB Fails Two Key Levels as ETH Nears Golden Cross, HYPE Breaks Out
Activity Is Rising, Not Just Holdings
The accumulation trend is showing up in broader network usage too. Santiment data shows average daily active addresses on the XRP Ledger climbed to roughly 35,700 in August, up about 35% from July's average of 26,400, with activity peaking on August 11 — the network's busiest day since early June. Notably, the number of brand-new addresses stayed nearly flat at around 2,260 per day, indicating the pickup in activity is coming from XRP's existing holder base rather than a wave of new entrants.
A Bullish Signal With a Caveat
Not every analyst reads the accumulation trend as an imminent catalyst. Whale buying of this kind has been underway since the start of the year without reversing XRP's broader slide from its January 2025 peak near $3.30, and on-chain flows are historically better at marking where a floor might eventually form than at timing when a rally begins. For now, the combination of shrinking exchange deposits, expanding whale balances, and rising network activity — set against a stagnant price — leaves XRP in a holding pattern where accumulation has yet to translate into upward momentum, unlike the sharp, visible sell pressure seen in tokens such as HYPE's recent whale-driven breakout attempt.
