The XRP token of Ripple, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies in the world, has increased by almost 600% in the last 3 months. With such a wild rise, it is important to address the following question: Who has the most Ripple (XRP)?
You see, a token's distribution needs to be diverse, because concentration means that the majority who own the token can significantly manipulate the price during any large buy or sell situation. Understanding who owns the most XRP can be crucial for investors to make a long-term buy or sell decision about this popular digital currency.
In this article, we will provide an overview of the number of XRP holders, the distribution of token holders, and the possible effects of this property in the future.
Overview of XRP holders
Ripple Labs, the creator of the XRP token, is reported to hold the largest share of the token's supply, amounting to 46 billion XRP. Also, Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple Labs, reportedly holds 5 billion XRP. Major cryptocurrency exchanges also hold a large amount of XRP, with Binance holding 1.83 billion tokens.
As of January 24, 2025, XRP is trading at around $3.16 per token. The cryptocurrency has experienced an intraday high of $3.18 and a low of $3.04. The 24-hour trading volume is $8.2 billion, adding to a market capitalization of about $182 billion.
XRP 1D Chart | Source: crypto.news
How many people own XRP?
Due to the anonymous nature of cryptocurrency transactions on the blockchain network, it is almost impossible to calculate the number of XRP holders. However, it is possible to track the multiple wallet addresses that have this token.
According to the latest data collected by Bithomp, there are approximately 6,032,259 active XRP account holders who have a total of 99,986,575,397 XRP. While these numbers provide an estimate of XRP holders, the actual number may vary, as multiple users may hold multiple wallets, and some wallets belong to many crypto exchanges.
Major holders of XRP
According to the latest data from Coincarp, 41.04% of the XRP token supply is held by the top 10 wallets. Meanwhile, the top 20 holders own 50.30% of the total supply, and if we talk about the top 50 and top 100, they have 63.71% and 71.74% of the total supply.
In terms of central crypto exchanges, Upbit is the leader among XRP holders, with 4.37% of the total supply, followed by Binance with 1.31%, Bitbank with 0.58%, and Korbit with 0.12%.
Distribution of XRP among holders
If we look at the distribution among XRP owners, we can see that wallets in the range of 1 million to 10 million XRP make up 6.42% of the total XRP supply. After this, wallets between 100,000 to 1 million XRP hold 11.14%, while smaller XRP holders with 1000 to 100000 XRP own 7.53% of the total supply. At the same time, holders with 1000 or less XRP tokens make up a small percentage of the total XRP token supply, highlighting the dominance of larger accounts in this token.
Ripple Labs and XRP ownership
Founded in 2012, Ripple Labs is the creator of XRP, a company focused on real-time payment solutions. Its main offering is called RippleNet, a technology used by major institutions for cross-border payments. While Ripple Labs holds the largest share of XRP tokens, amounting to 46 billion XRP tokens, most of it is locked in escrow with scheduled calls to effectively manage the token supply .
This large ownership encourages the growth of the ecosystem, but it also marks the centralization of the token supply, which goes against the main principles of blockchain technology.
Impact of XRP ownership distribution
As mentioned above, some groups hold a significant portion of the XRP token supply, with the top 20 holders together controlling 50.53% of the total supply. While it is common for many early-stage cryptocurrencies to have a tight supply among a small number of holders, it is not good in the long run especially when it comes to price stability and market behavior.
If major holders were forced to sell their XRP holdings in a short period of time it could have a huge impact on the price of the token, and more importantly, it could tarnish the reputation of the project forever. It is advisable to do your research before investing in any token and check the tokenomics tokens, the total supply, and token holders' normalization as well.
