Ripple's Cofounder Liquidates $200 Million worth of XRP within a 10-day span - Remaining Amount?
Ripple Executive Chairman Transfers Significant Amounts of XRP, Contributes to Market Volatility
Chris Larsen, the executive chairman of Ripple, has recently transferred a substantial amount of XRP, causing a noticeable impact on the cryptocurrency's market price. Between July 17 and July 25, 2025, Larsen moved approximately 50 million XRP, worth around $175 million, to four different wallets, with around $140 million worth transferred to exchanges where the tokens were likely sold.
Over this 10-day period, Larsen reportedly offloaded roughly 57 million XRP, amounting to over $200 million at prevailing prices. This large-scale transfer occurred as XRP’s price was retreating from a local peak near $3.66 to lows around $2.95–3.00, with the timing of these moves correlating with a 10-15% price decline over the same period.
Analysts and traders have linked Larsen’s XRP sales to increased market volatility and notable liquidations, including a single-day 10% price drop resulting in $7.3 million wiped out on long positions on Binance. While correlation does not imply direct causation, the market perception is that these large-scale transfers by an internal major holder like Larsen have added selling pressure on XRP during an otherwise fragile rally, reigniting concerns about insider activity and market impact from token distribution.
Despite these sales, Larsen still reportedly controls a substantial stake of about 2.58 to 2.81 billion XRP, valued around $7.9 to $8.4 billion, which means he remains one of the largest potential sources of supply in the XRP market.
Meanwhile, other Ripple co-founders have also made headlines. Jed McCaleb, who finished liquidating his "Tacostand" wallets in 2022, is listed at $2.9 billion in the April 2025 Forbes Billionaires ranking, with his fortune entirely denominated in assets other than XRP. Arthur Britto, another Ripple co-founder, has a wealth that is notoriously opaque, but if he retained his full two-billion-token grant, it would be worth about $6.2 billion at current prices.
Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple's current CEO, received a total of 771 million XRP as part of his elevation to CEO in 2016 and 2019. By the time the SEC filed its complaint, 521 million of Garlinghouse's XRP tokens had been delivered, valued then at about $246 million.
In a related development, on-chain analyst JA Maartun stated that Chris Larsen "just dumped approximately $200 million worth of XRP in the past 10 days," while ZachXBT, an on-chain investigator, confirmed that wallets linked to Chris Larsen have approximately 2.81 billion XRP remaining. Blockchain forensics firm Lookonchain estimates that wallets attributed to Larsen still control about 2.81 billion XRP, worth approximately $8.4 billion.
The initial allocation of XRP, as described in court filings, divided the fixed supply of 100 billion tokens so that 80 billion went to Ripple and 20 billion to the three founders as compensation. This distribution has been a subject of controversy, with critics arguing that it could lead to insider trading and manipulation.
In conclusion, Larsen's recent significant XRP distributions to exchanges have coincided with and likely contributed to short-term downward pressure and increased volatility in XRP’s price in July 2025. The impact of these transfers on the broader cryptocurrency market and Ripple's business operations remains to be seen.
References
[1] Maartun, J. A. (2025, July 25). Chris Larsen just dumped approximately $200 million worth of XRP in the past 10 days. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/whale_alert/status/1551613433596233729
[2] ZachXBT (2025, July 25). Chris Larsen's XRP wallets still hold approximately 2.81 billion XRP. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/ZachXBT/status/1551612986866013191
[3] Lookonchain (2025, July 25). Chris Larsen's wallets still hold approximately 2.81 billion XRP. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/lookonchain/status/1551614714587766784
[4] CoinDesk (2025, July 25). Ripple executive chairman Chris Larsen transfers 50 million XRP, sparks market volatility. Retrieved from https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/07/25/ripple-executive-chairman-chris-larsen-transfers-50-million-xp/
Technology played a significant role in Larsen's financial transaction, as he used XRP, a digital asset based on blockchain, to transfer funds worth around $175 million. This large-scale investing activity created market volatility, as the transfer coincided with a 10-15% price decline in XRP within the following 10 days.
