Coinbase’s XRP reserves shrink from 970M in June to 65.6M, marking a steep 93% decline in just 3 months.
48 of Coinbase’s 52 tracked wallets are inactive, raising questions on whether XRP moved or was restructured.
Analysts suggest institutions like BlackRock may use Coinbase to quietly build XRP positions for their clients.
Coinbase’s XRP holdings have experienced a major decline over the past three months. In June, the exchange managed around 970 million XRP across 52 tracked cold wallets. Ten of these wallets each contained roughly 26.8 million XRP, while the rest averaged 16.8 million each.
By mid-September, only four of those wallets remained active. Each still holds about 16.4 million XRP, leaving a total of 65.6 million XRP. This figure represents less than 7% of what the exchange had three months earlier. Over 900 million XRP, worth nearly $2.8 billion at today’s market price, has moved out of Coinbase’s visible storage.
Large Transfers Raise Questions
Despite the reduction in visible holdings, Coinbase continues to process major transactions. Over the past weekend, a transfer of 16.5 million XRP, valued at $51.4 million, passed through the exchange. Such large transfers suggest ongoing activity even as the older wallets become inactive.
https://twitter.com/XRPwallets/status/1968518306106617995
In total, 48 out of Coinbase’s 52 tracked wallets now show no current balances. On-chain analysts note that this does not automatically mean the coins left the platform. The XRP could have moved into new, untracked wallets as part of Coinbase’s custody management. This type of restructuring is common in large-scale digital asset operations.
Institutional Involvement Speculation
The scale of the transfers has led to speculation about institutional activity. Some observers suggest that large financial players may be accumulating XRP through Coinbase’s infrastructure. By doing so, they could establish positions for clients without leaving a clear on-chain footprint.
One theory points to BlackRock as a possible participant. Although no direct linkage can be made to the company, it cannot be said that involvement of major institutions can be eliminated, as argued by the analysts. This kind of speculation underscores the growing influence of such custodians as Coinbase in institutional flows in the cryptocurrency market.
The figures are quite stark: the apparent XRP holdings of Coinbase have decreased from almost one billion in June to less than 70 million at present. Regardless of whether it is internal wallet restructuring or asset accretion by the institutions, this is one of the biggest changes in the management of the assets of the exchange this year.
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