Ripple (XRP), which has been suing the SEC since 2020, has been criticized the most for being ‘over-centralized’ throughout the process. The data shows that XRP is mostly controlled by big crypto companies.
Ripple (XRP) supply breakdown: Which companies own the most shares?
XRP has taken the lead in the crypto scene lately, especially due to legal pressure from the Ripple and SEC lawsuit. Despite this pressure, it remains one of the most widely held cryptocurrencies with a total of 4.5 million active accounts.
According to data from XRPScan, out of a maximum supply of 100 billion tokens, XRP currently has 43.4 billion tokens locked in escrow, with 10.8 million tokens burned. XRP currently has a circulating supply of 56.3 billion, with the top 5 addresses holding an excess of 7.4 billion XRP ($3.35 billion).
Here are the biggest XRP whales
Ripple company
Ripple, the producer of XRP, is the largest single owner of the token. The Silicon Valley firm controls the first two addresses on the XRP rich list. These addresses hold 3.7 billion XRP worth $1.68 billion cumulatively.
These two are the only addresses owned by Ripple holding billions of XRP. While the California-based company controls other XRP addresses, these other addresses hold millions of tokens, while some cryptocurrencies are held in escrow. As quoted by cryptokoin.com, Ripple CTO David Schwartz recently confirmed that the company periodically sells XRP to reduce its holdings.
Binance
Binance, the world’s largest exchange, also has two addresses in the top 5 in the list of the richest XRP addresses. The exchange’s assets represent client balances. Binance’s two largest addresses hold a total of 2.3 billion XRP worth $1.05 billion.
Binance’s Proof of Reserve (PoR) report revealed that the exchange was holding a total of 2.72 billion XRP as of March 7. This value represented 105.25% of the total customer balance on the platform, which was 2.58 billion tokens. XRP is one of the most widely held assets on Binance.
UpHold
UpHold, a New York-based exchange, continued to list XRP despite the US SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple, which caused several US-based exchanges like Coinbase to suspend support for the asset.
UpHold, one of the few leading American-based platforms supporting XRP, has been flooded by American XRP investors. The platform has the fourth richest XRP address that includes client balances. The address holds 1.38 billion XRP ($622 million). UpHold’s PoR reveals that the exchange has a total of 2.09 billion XRP ($943.5 million).
How about the XRP price?
Meanwhile, XRP has faced a drop triggered by the market-wide bearish storm. The altcoin has lost 15% of its value in the past three days, falling from $0.53 to its current price of $0.4652. It dropped an additional 2.5% on April 22.