$XRP has had a difficult 2026, with its price falling 43%. However, whales holding between 10 million and 100 million $XRP have continued to build their holdings.
Santiment data shows that this group has added 1.23 billion $XRP to its combined balance since the start of the year.
For context, these whales held 10.97 billion $XRP at the beginning of 2026. Their combined balance now stands at 12.2 billion $XRP, giving them an exact increase of 1.23 billion tokens.
At $XRP’s current price of $1.04, the newly added tokens have a value of about $1.2792 billion. At $XRP’s all-time high of $3.66, attained in July 2025, these 1.23 billion tokens would be worth $4.5 billion.
$XRP Whales Show Erratic Accumulation Trend
The group’s accumulation has followed an uneven pattern since the start of the year. The buying began well before 2026, as these $XRP whales added more than 2.4 billion tokens in November 2025 alone despite the price struggles. Their combined balance rose from 8.4 billion $XRP to more than 10.8 billion during that month.
The pace then slowed as $XRP remained under pressure. Notably, their holdings moved above 11 billion $XRP in December 2025 but later slipped slightly to 10.97 billion $XRP by the start of 2026. The group stayed mostly quiet until March 2026, when it began a mild but steady accumulation campaign.
This buying continued through the following months. By July 8, 2026, the whales had pushed their combined holdings to a new all-time high of 12.27 billion $XRP.
Notably, they have distributed some tokens since then, bringing the balance down gradually to 12.2 billion $XRP. Despite the recent decline, their current holdings remain far above the 10.97 billion $XRP they held at the start of the year.
More Large Holders Enter the Group
The increase in holdings has not come only from existing whales buying more $XRP. On-chain data also shows that more addresses have entered the 10 million-to-100 million $XRP range.
Specifically, the group had 301 addresses at the start of 2026. Today, it has 313. The number initially fell to 285 in mid-February before recovering. It then climbed steadily to 322 addresses in early July and later dropped to the current 313.
Despite this year’s increase, the number of addresses remains below the group’s all-time high of 351, which it reached in October 2025. Still, the rise from 301 to 313 addresses shows that the group has expanded since the beginning of the year.
Other $XRP Whales Show Different Behavior
Other major $XRP holders have behaved differently during the same period. Whales holding between 100 million and 1 billion $XRP have cut their combined balance from 8.43 billion $XRP at the start of the year to 8.13 billion $XRP today. This amounts to a distribution of 300 million $XRP in 2026.
Meanwhile, whales holding between 1 million and 10 million $XRP have moved in the other direction, but their increase has been much smaller. This group has added 260 million $XRP to its holdings, taking its combined balance to 3.83 billion $XRP today.
The 100,000-to-1-million $XRP shark group has also reduced its holdings. Specifically, its combined balance has fallen from 6.43 billion $XRP at the beginning of 2026 to 6.37 billion $XRP today.
