Ripple’s XRP token, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies in the world, has surged close to 600% in the last 3 months. With such a wild increase, it is important to address the following question: Who owns the most Ripple (XRP)?
You see, a token’s distribution has to be diverse, as concentration means that the majority holder of the token can heavily manipulate the price at any major buy or sell position. Understanding who holds the most XRP can be key for investors to make a long-term buying or selling decision about this popular cryptocurrency.
In this article, we’ll provide an overview of the number of XRP holders, the token holder distribution, and the possible impacts of this ownership in the future.
Overview of XRP holders
Ripple Labs, the creator of the XRP token, is reported to hold the largest share of the token’s supply, amounting to 46 billion XRP. Also, Chris Larsen, the co-founder of Ripple Labs, reportedly holds 5 billion XRP. Major cryptocurrency exchanges also hold a substantial amount of XRP, with Binance holding 1.83 billion tokens.
As of January 24, 2025, XRP is trading at approximately $3.16 per token. The cryptocurrency has experienced an intraday high of $3.18 and a low of $3.04. The 24-hour trading volume stands at $8.2 billion, contributing to a market capitalization of around $182 billion.
XRP 1D chart | Source: crypto.news
How many people own XRP?
Due to the anonymous nature of cryptocurrency transactions on the blockchain network, it is almost impossible to calculate the number of XRP holders. However, it is possible to track the multiple wallet addresses that hold this token.
According to the latest data collected by Bithomp, there are approximately 6,032,259 active XRP account holders who hold a total of 99,986,575,397 XRP. While these numbers provide an estimate of XRP holders, the actual number may be different, as many users may hold multiple wallets, and some wallets will also belong to many crypto exchanges.
Top XRP holders
According to the latest data from Coincarp, 41.04% of the XRP token supply is held by the top 10 wallets. Meanwhile, the top 20 holders own 50.30% of the total supply, and if we talk about the top 50 and top 100, they hold 63.71% and 71.74% of the total supply.
As for centralized crypto exchanges, Upbit is the leader among XRP owners, with 4.37% of the total supply, followed by Binance with 1.31%, Bitbank with 0.58%, and Korbit with 0.12%.
Distribution of XRP among holders
If we look at the distribution among XRP owners, we can see that wallets in the range of 1 million to 10 million XRP account for 6.42% of the total XRP supply. Following this, wallets between 100,000 to 1 million XRP hold 11.14%, and smaller XRP holders with 1000 to 100000 XRP own 7.53% of the total supply. Meanwhile, holders with 1000 or fewer XRP tokens make up a small percentage of the total XRP token supply, highlighting the dominance of larger accounts in this token.
Ripple Labs and XRP ownership
Founded in 2012, Ripple Labs is the creator of XRP, a company that focuses on real-time payment solutions. Its primary offering is known as RippleNet, a technology used by major institutions for cross-border payments. While Ripple Labs does hold the largest share of XRP tokens, amounting to 46 billion XRP tokens, most of it is locked in escrow with scheduled releases to manage token supply effectively.
This major ownership does promote the ecosystem’s growth, but it also points to the centralization of the token’s supply, which goes against the core principles of blockchain technology.
The impact of XRP ownership distribution
As mentioned above, a few entities hold a significant portion of the XRP token supply, with the top 20 holders collectively controlling 50.53% of the total supply. While it is common for many cryptocurrencies which are in their early stages to have a concentrated supply among a small number of holders, it is not good in the long run especially when it comes to price stability and market behaviour.
If major holders were to sell off their XRP holdings in a small amount of time it can drastically affect the token’s price, and more importantly, it can dent the project’s reputation forever. It is advisable to do your research before investing in any token and take a look at its tokenomics, total supply, and the convention of token holders as well.
