XRP's explosive August rally may have had an early warning sign hiding on-chain.
According to fresh data from Santiment Intelligence, 85 new XRP Ledger addresses holding at least 1 million XRP appeared just two days before XRP surged 67% between Aug. 17 and Aug. 21.
The jump represented roughly a 4.2% one-day increase in million-XRP addresses. XRP subsequently climbed from around $0.98 on Aug. 17 to $1.64 on Aug. 21, according to reporting based on Santiment's data.
That doesn't prove whales caused the rally. But the timing makes the movement of XRP's biggest wallets particularly interesting—especially now that the price has pulled back.
XRP Millionaire Wallets Moved Before the Price
The key detail is the sequence.
There were roughly 2,025 addresses holding at least 1 million XRP before the sudden increase. Adding 85 pushed the figure toward 2,110, and it subsequently reached around 2,117.
The wallet expansion happened before, rather than after, XRP's breakout.
Million-XRP wallets can represent substantial amounts of capital. At an XRP price of $1, the threshold alone represents $1 million worth of tokens.
However, an address isn't necessarily an individual investor. Exchanges and custodians can control multiple wallets, while one holder can split XRP across several addresses. The data therefore shows a rise in large addresses, not necessarily 85 completely new millionaires.
The Whales Didn't Completely Disappear
Perhaps the more interesting development came after the rally.
XRP eventually surrendered part of its August gains, but analysis of Santiment's latest whale data shows the number of million-XRP addresses remained above 2,100 during the subsequent correction.
That creates an interesting divergence: XRP's price retreated, while the population of its largest addresses remained elevated.
It doesn't necessarily mean those wallets are still accumulating. But it suggests the large-address surge wasn't completely reversed when XRP started falling.
XRP's Institutional Story Is Growing Too
The on-chain activity comes as institutional exposure to XRP continues expanding.
U.S. exchange-traded products have provided another route into the asset. Even during periods when Bitcoin funds experienced heavy withdrawals, XRP ETFs continued attracting capital.
Ripple-backed Evernorth has also accumulated roughly 473 million XRP for its treasury ahead of its planned public-market debut, potentially creating another bridge between XRP and traditional investors.
And while the broader U.S. crypto industry is still fighting for comprehensive regulation, XRP already has legal clarity that many competing tokens don't.
