Simon McLoughlin, CEO of the American exchange Uphold, has praised XRP holders for their trust and dedication to the platform.
He remarked that XRP holders are maintaining their position on Uphold solely based on trust, not hype.
McLoughlin expressed this view in a tweet over the weekend when clarifying a report about the massive amount of XRP tokens under Uphold’s custody.
You’ll see @UpholdInc listed among the biggest $XRP holders.
But those assets belong to our customers, not us.
People remember who stood strong in difficult times.
This “holding” is built on trust, not hype.
Big difference. pic.twitter.com/RoB8SBN2CF
— Simon McLoughlin (@SMcLoughlin00) September 14, 2025
Uphold Among Top XRP Holders
Notably, the exchange ranks among the top four largest XRP holders after Ripple. Specifically, one of Uphold’s wallets holds 1.579 billion XRP, worth close to $5 billion.
Aside from Ripple, the only wallets holding more XRP than Uphold’s are Binance and Bithumb, with 1.853 billion and 1.638 billion tokens, respectively.
Meanwhile, in his tweet, McLoughlin clarified that while it is usual for Uphold to secure a spot among large XRP holders, these holdings are not the exchange’s own portfolio but assets entrusted to it by users.
He went on to explain why XRP users have chosen Uphold’s services over many other centralized exchanges. According to him, people remember those who stood by them during difficult times.
For context, McLoughlin was referring to the late 2020 and early 2021 period when many U.S. exchanges distanced themselves from XRP. They delisted the coin after the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple.
Despite this, Uphold maintained its position and continued to support XRP throughout the lawsuit, never delisting the coin. It was the only major U.S. exchange that didn’t follow the trend. It continued to give U.S. investors exposure to the asset during tough legal times.
Why Uphold Never Delisted XRP
In a 2023 interview, the Uphold CEO explained their decision to continue listing XRP. He pointed to legal advice from Mike Zupon, former head of the SEC’s office, as the guide. When the SEC filed its complaint against Ripple in December 2020, Zupon advised that since the court had not yet adjudicated the case, they could still support XRP as it does not yet hold the status of a security.
Uphold believed it appropriate to maintain XRP trading until a court ruling said otherwise. Interestingly, when the SEC clarified it had never asked exchanges to delist XRP, this further reinforced their stance. This official statement further validated Uphold’s confidence in continuing to support XRP.
This commitment earned Uphold a strong reputation among XRP holders. To this day, XRP remains the most popular crypto asset on the platform.
“The Holding is Built on Trust, not hype”
In particular, the volume of XRP that users hold on the exchange supersedes their Bitcoin holdings by more than ten times, an unusual trend when considering other centralized exchanges.
Specifically, users’ Bitcoin on Uphold is worth $506.6 million, while users’ XRP on the exchange is worth over $6.19 billion, making it the largest crypto asset under its custody.
Commenting on this, McLoughlin said the building block is trust, not hype — and that makes a big difference.
