The issuer of XRP, Ripple, announced on January 31 that co-founder Chris Larsen‘s personal wallet address was hacked and $112 million worth of XRP was stolen. Following this announcement, the price of XRP fell for the first time since October 19, 2023, by more than 4%, dropping below $0.50 and facing sudden selling pressure. On-chain data shows that XRP whales continue to hold their coins without selling despite the hack.
XRP Whales Await Despite Hack Incident
On-chain data provider Santiment reported that the highest number of whale transactions, involving XRP worth $1 million or more, occurred on the network of the XRP Ledger the day following the price drop. According to the data, a total of 217 such transactions were recorded. This marked the most significant increase since a US judge ruled on July 13 and 14, 2023, that Ripple’s secondary market sales of XRP did not violate securities laws, which led to a rise in the price of the altcoin.
Santiment’s analysis particularly highlights that there is no sign of panic among these strong whales. According to the data, wallet addresses holding at least 10 million XRP have been controlling 67.2% of the current supply, a figure not seen since December 31, 2022.
XRP Wallets Per Day
As soon as news of Larsen’s wallet address being hacked spread, Ripple’s senior executives clarified that the funds were safe and assured there were no issues with XRP wallets. Larsen stated that the XRP Blockchain was not compromised, but there was unauthorized access to his personal XRP wallet. He added that he informed cryptocurrency exchanges to freeze the stolen XRP as soon as he noticed the issue.
Furthermore, he emphasized that Ripple is actively cooperating with law enforcement and has received information that a significant portion of the involved funds has been frozen. The team is currently meticulously tracing the remaining funds to comprehensively address the situation following the hack attack.
