Recently, many people have been paying attention to XRP, but have you ever wondered—it's not the price itself that matters, but the ledger of "who holds the coins."

Although the circulating supply looks large, it is actually quite tight. Data shows that among over 6 million wallets, the vast majority hold no more than 500 XRP. The true market controllers are still those whales holding millions of XRP.

The most painful part is the purchase cost. Buying 1000 XRP now costs about $1,750, whereas a year ago it was only $500—more than tripling the barrier. Retail investors trying to get on board? The difficulty is indeed increasing. Plus, some XRP is locked in various protocols, making the amount available for free trading even more limited.

The price has plummeted from $3.66 to $1.85, a nearly 50% drop. After this decline, an interesting phenomenon has emerged—large amounts of XRP are flooding into exchanges, especially some leading trading platforms. Since mid-December, daily net inflows have fluctuated between 35 million and 116 million coins, indicating that whales are still eager to sell.

But here’s a paradox: despite continuous selling, the total XRP on exchanges is shrinking, now only about 1.5 billion coins. What does this mean? Those who truly hold XRP are transferring their coins out of exchanges. Whales are acting, retail investors are watching, and the market structure of XRP is quietly reshaping.