XRP is down nearly 4% in the last 24 hours, with the recent crash coinciding with an enormous whale movement from Ripple.

The recent XRP price drop is a product of a broader crash affecting the entire crypto market. Amid the turbulence, market tracking resource Whale Alert recently spotlighted the movement of 200 million XRP worth $118.9 million from a Ripple wallet to an unknown address, “rP4…xv3.”

Whale Alert on X

Details of the Transactions

Data from XRPL explorer Bithomp confirms that the transaction occurred yesterday at 19:30 UTC, with the recipient address “rP4…xv3” also belonging to Ripple. Following this transaction, Ripple continued to move substantial amounts of XRP, with the ultimate direction for some of these funds being centralized exchanges.

Nearly four hours after receiving the 200 million XRP, “rP4…xv3” moved half of the amount, 100 million tokens, to another address, “rhW…2hk.” While Whale Alert tagged the recipient address unknown, on-chain data suggests it also belongs to Ripple.

Interestingly, further investigation confirmed that “rP4…xv3” constantly moves millions of XRP to “rhW…2hk.” Before the latest 100 million XRP transaction, it sent 20 million tokens to “rhW…2hk” on Aug. 25. In addition, it also transferred 100 million XRP on Aug. 14 and 5, including 50 million XRP on July 28.

Meanwhile, after receiving the recent 100 million XRP, “rhW…2hk” sent 16.4 million tokens to another Ripple address, “r4w…Rzn.” This address then moved the 16.4 million XRP to the Bitso exchange. It appears Ripple typically leverages “r4w…Rzn” for exchange deposits, as demonstrated by its transaction history.

Whale Alert also called the investing public’s attention to an earlier outflow from “r4w…Rzn” involving another exchange. Notably, before moving the 16.4 million XRP to Bitso, this address transferred 25.45 million tokens worth $15 million to Bitstamp yesterday at 20:03 UTC.

Whale Alert on X

Ripple’s XRP Movements

Essentially, the recent slew of movements saw Ripple shuffle 200 million XRP within its internal wallets and transfer a total of 41.85 million tokens to exchanges Bitso and Bitstamp. These funds could go for ODL transactions or Ripple could leverage them to meet operational needs.

This pattern has continued to play out this month. On Aug. 15, The Crypto Basic highlighted the movement of 146.92 million XRP by Ripple. Interestingly, during this period, Ripple also used “r4w…Rzn” to move 46.92 million XRP to Bitso and Bitstamp.

Meanwhile, the latest movements coincide with a dramatic drop in XRP’s price. XRP has collapsed 3.71% over the past 24 hours, currently trading for $0.5710. However, this bearish trend is not unique, as the broader market has seen equal declines. BTC is down 6% and ETH has dropped 8% within the same timeframe.