This article briefly:
•The crypto community speculates on XRP supply shifts, raising concerns about market impact and liquidity control.
•Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino refuted attack rumors and assured followers of the exchange’s security measures.
•Investors are concerned about a single wallet holding a large portion of a crypto asset’s supply as this indicates centralization.
A now-deleted post on X sparked widespread speculation in the cryptocurrency community, suggesting that roughly half of XRP’s total supply was being moved to a separate exchange in a single transaction, but it appears that not everything is as initially thought.
Well-known cryptocurrency commentator “Wolf on the Street” raised concerns, mainly because the transaction appeared to originate from a single wallet. This situation poses a risk for any asset because potential problems may arise when one person has significant control over the liquidity of an asset.
Bitfinex CTO dispels XRP rumors
Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino confirmed to his 217,100 followers on X (formerly Twitter) that the cryptocurrency exchange had been hacked.
“An attempt was made to attack Bitfinex via the “Partial Payment Vulnerability”. The attack failed because Bitfinex correctly processed the “delivered_amount” data field.”
He was prompted to do so by numerous reports circulating online that a single wallet had sent a massive amount (almost 50% of the entire supply of XRP) to the exchange in a single transaction.
It was originally spotted by Whale Alert. "This can't be real," 'Wolf in the Street' told his 932,500 followers.
“There is about $54 billion in XRP in circulation. Almost half of this transaction came from the same wallet.”
Investors who hold crypto assets become concerned when a single wallet holds a majority of the supply. This is because it gives the holder significant power and control over the entire market.
The potential consequences of holders selling all of these assets at once could have a significant impact on the price of XRP.
As of the time of publishing, XRP is priced at $0.59.
Rumors of an XRP ETF in the works
This is a major concern in the cryptocurrency community. This is because there is speculation about the possibility of an XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) being approved. The U.S. SEC decided to approve 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs last week.
On January 8, it was reported that Fidelity is expected to launch an ETF product by April 2024. Furthermore, the product could be approved by the end of 2024.
However, this is not the first time XRP has been affected by fake news.
Last year, news that BlackRock had filed a fake XRP ETF sent the asset’s price soaring 10%. #Bitfinex #XRP
