XRP whale deposits to exchanges reached a six-month high early Tuesday, signaling potential short-term bearish pressure on the cryptocurrency.
XRP outperformed Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies, while Dogecoin (DOGE) led the losses in the past 24 hours, ahead of the U.S. inflation data release on Wednesday. Bitcoin (BTC) remained stable at around $98,000, while Ether (ETH), BNB Chain’s BNB, and Cardano’s ADA dropped by up to 2%. Memecoin DOGE fell 4%, while Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Floki (FLOKI) gained 1%. The broader CoinDesk 20 index saw a modest rise of 0.69%.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release the November consumer price index (CPI) at 8:30 a.m. ET (13:30 UTC), and market watchers expect the data to influence Federal Reserve decisions on interest rates, which could have broader implications for the crypto market in the coming months. Last month’s data showed persistent inflationary pressures, which the Fed is closely monitoring.
Meanwhile, XRP surged by as much as 7%, reversing losses from earlier in the week, following an announcement from Ripple Labs confirming that it had received “final” regulatory approval to launch the RLUSD stablecoin in the U.S. The stablecoin will be available on both the XRP Ledger and Ethereum networks and is expected to enhance decentralized finance (DeFi) applications involving XRP, further supporting its ecosystem.
Prior to this announcement, XRP whale deposits to exchanges hit a six-month peak on Tuesday, indicating some bearish short-term pressure. Over the past 30 days, more than 2.66 billion XRP tokens were transferred to Binance, marking the largest movement since April 2024, according to CryptoQuant data.
“The significant influx suggests that large XRP holders are actively moving their assets across the network,” said CryptoQuant’s independent analyst, maartunn. “Whale deposits can often signal shifts in strategy, given the large volumes these investors control.”
Historically, large transfers of XRP to Binance have preceded price declines, as seen in November 2023 and April 2024.
