Ripple Co-Founder Chris Larsen Moves $175M XRP, What’s Happening?

Ripple co-founder, Chris Larsen, is facing backlash after moving 50 million XRP, worth $175 million, between July 17 and 23. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT flagged the transfers, noting that about $140 million went to centralized exchanges, which indicates a possible sell-off.

Larsen’s $175M XRP Moves Sparks Speculations 

Two addresses received the bulk of the transfer, 30 million XRP each, with another address receiving 10 million XRP. The remaining $35 million in XRP was split between two newly created wallets, receiving 5 million XRP each.

However, the timing has sparked speculation in the community. Some users accused Larsen of dumping on loyal holders, while others argue that he is simply decentralizing his XRP to long-term holders. With over 2.81 billion XRP still in Larsen-linked wallets, the moves have raised questions about intent and impact on the market.

XRP had just hit a local high of $3.60 before falling below $3.10, a 17% drop. Chris Larsen still controls over 2.8 billion XRP, worth about $8.4 billion. That’s nearly 5% of all XRP in existence.

Over $140M in XRP Moved to Coinbase

Data from Whale Alert shows that yesterday, a large transfer of 16.8 million XRP, worth $58.3 million, was sent from an unknown wallet to Coinbase. This kind of move often signals that a whale may be preparing to sell, which can put downward pressure on the price.

The activity continued today, as in total, over 44 million XRP (worth more than $140 million) has been transferred from unknown wallets to Coinbase in the past 24 hours.

According to XRPwalllets, the large XRP transactions took place between Coinbase’s cold wallets and exchange wallets. While these are likely internal transfers, they suggest that Coinbase may be actively reallocating liquidity or preparing funds for trading, withdrawals, or institutional activity.