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September 1, 2025Coinpaper logoCoinpaper

Top XRP Holders by Percentage: Who Controls Ripple’s Supply?

XRP Ownership: Why It Matters XRP, one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, is often at the center of debates about decentralization and ￰0￱ Bitcoin or Ethereum, a significant portion of XRP’s total supply was pre-mined in 2012, with Ripple Labs receiving a large allocation at launch. Today, investors and analysts often ask: “ Who owns the most XRP, and how is it distributed? ” The answer gives insight into liquidity, whale influence, and how much control Ripple still exerts over the token’s ￰1￱ XRP Holders by Percentage Based on recent blockchain data, here’s a breakdown of the largest XRP holders by percentage of total supply (100 billion XRP maximum supply): ￰2￱ Labs Escrow Accounts — ~40–45% Ripple placed much of its allocation into escrow, releasing around 1 billion XRP per ￰3￱ remains Ripple’s largest share, though not all is in ￰4￱ Treasury & Operating Wallets — ~5–6% Beyond escrow, Ripple controls wallets for operations, partnerships, and ￰5￱ & Early Executives — ~3–5% Co-founders like Chris Larsen (Ripple’s former CEO) and Jed McCaleb (who sold his allocation years ago) once held ￰6￱ still ranks among top individual ￰7￱ (Binance, Bitstamp, Uphold, Kraken) — ~10–12% combined Centralized exchanges hold large XRP reserves on behalf of ￰8￱ alone holds billions in multiple ￰9￱ Whales & Institutional Custodians — ~5–7% A small group of wallets outside Ripple and exchanges hold significant XRP ￰10￱ could be hedge funds, custodians, or private ￰11￱ Investors — ~25–30% The rest of circulating XRP is distributed across millions of small wallets, though most wallets hold under 1,000 ￰12￱ Whales and Their Influence Whale wallets — those holding millions or billions of XRP play a key role in ￰13￱ whales move large sums, it often sparks speculation about price ￰14￱ example: Chris Larsen’s wallets are closely tracked by the ￰15￱ inflows/outflows signal retail ￰16￱ releases influence overall supply ￰17￱ concerns about centralization, Ripple argues that controlled escrow releases prevent flooding the market and create predictable ￰18￱ ￰19￱ Market Ripple’s dominance in XRP holdings is a double-edged sword: Pro : Ensures liquidity for institutional use, partnerships, and payment ￰20￱ : Critics argue it centralizes control and creates uncertainty about future token unlocks.

However, Ripple has steadily reduced its share as more XRP enters ￰21￱ wider distribution among exchanges and retail users signals increasing decentralization over ￰22￱ Holder Percentages Matter for Investors Knowing top XRP holders by percentage helps investors understand: Large holders could impact price if they ￰23￱ releases are structured, avoiding sudden ￰24￱ holdings reflect user demand and trading ￰25￱ example, keyword searches like “top XRP holders by percentage” have surged, showing investor interest in whale tracking and Ripple’s role in supply ￰26￱ Thoughts XRP’s ownership remains concentrated, with Ripple Labs still controlling the largest portion via escrow and treasury ￰27￱ as more XRP enters the market and retail adoption grows, the distribution is slowly ￰28￱ now, XRP remains a unique case among top cryptos: a digital asset where a company, exchanges, and whales share control of its destiny.

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