According to CryptoPotato, crypto market intelligence platform Santiment has reported that the XRP Ledger (XRPL) has seen less whale activity in 2023 compared to the last two years. Despite the decline in activity, whales and sharks have continued accumulating more of the XRP supply. Wallets holding between 100,000 and 100 million XRP have increased their coins from $7.16 billion a year ago to $7.89 billion, collectively holding 26.8% of the 53.39 billion XRP in circulation. The XRP Ledger is averaging around 3,800 whale transactions worth $100,000 and above per week.
Santiment's disclosures come as Forbes predicts that a U.S. economic downturn could benefit the crypto industry, with the prices of assets like bitcoin (BTC), XRP, and ether (ETH) reaching new highs. Forbes believes the U.S. dollar may collapse for several reasons, including the U.S. debt ceiling saga and the mass printing of fiat initiated by the Federal Reserve. Amid the chaos, XRP may soar to new peaks, continuing the trajectory it has set in the past few weeks. Following Ripple Labs' first partial court win against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in July, XRP soared by roughly 70%, almost hitting the $1 mark. Since then, the asset has experienced enhanced volatility due to frequent developments around Ripple's legal tussle with the SEC. The legal battle between the agency and the blockchain firm will stretch into the second quarter of 2024, and XRP's price and activities on the XRPL will be influenced by activities that take place in the court.
