Cryptocurrency whale watchers are analyzing a huge XRP transaction that just hit the ledger.
Whale Alert, an automated blockchain data tracker that identifies large cryptocurrency transactions, spotted a movement of 24,999,995 XRP worth $5.2 million. The crypto in question was sent from a wallet of unknown origin to the crypto exchange Bitstamp.
There are a number of potential reasons for the transfer. It could be a whale moving assets to a crypto exchange in order to sell, or it could be Bitstamp moving funds around for storage and security purposes.
It could also be Ripple sending crypto to Bitstamp in order to sell portions of its holdings. Last but not least, Ripple is partnered with Bitstamp for its XRP-powered payments product ODL, which raises the possibility that the funds are related to the crypto remittance service.
This is not the first time that Bitstamp was on the receiving end of a huge XRP transaction. In January, Whale Alert identified a transaction also totaling 24,999,995 XRP that came from a separate, unidentified wallet.
Ripple itself has a history of sending XRP to Bitstamp. In December, a Ripple-owned wallet sent 220,303,137 XRP worth $49.28 million to the crypto exchange.
Ripple says it stopped its sales of XRP on crypto exchanges in the fourth quarter of 2019 and has suggested it may do the same this quarter.
However, the company continues to sell XRP over the counter, and sold a total of $13.08 million to third parties in Q4 of last year.