Recent trends indicate a notable shift within the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase concerning its XRP holdings. Reports reveal that the exchange has significantly reduced its XRP inventory, cutting it from over 780 million to approximately 200 million tokens in just a few weeks. As stated by XRPScan data, this translates to a dramatic decline of 69% since the last proof of reserve update. This move becomes particularly interesting as institutional entities like BlackRock are increasingly connected to Coinbase.
Coinbase’s Diminishing XRP Inventory
Once holding the position of the fifth-largest XRP holder, Coinbase now finds itself in the tenth position, following a rapid decrease in its holdings from about 780.13 million XRP to 199.47 million. This change represents an astonishing 69% reduction since the second quarter of 2025, with a 57% decline occurring within just the last month. This sharp decrease could imply that institutional investors are moving away from Coinbase’s offerings.
Currently, Coinbase is reported to possess 11 cold wallets, each containing 16.5 million XRP. This is a stark contrast to the early June statistics, which indicated 52 cold wallets holding a collective total of 970 million XRP, per insights from XRPwallets, a prominent XRP-focused account. Furthermore, there are speculations linking these substantial movements to BlackRock’s involvement.
The involvement of BlackRock is noteworthy, primarily due to their recent collaboration with Coinbase. This partnership, announced in early August, aims to grant institutional investors streamlined access to cryptocurrencies via Coinbase. Although Bitcoin was initially spotlighted, it’s plausible that the expanding interest in XRP among institutional players has prompted a shift in focus.
Retail Investors Take the Stage
Currently, it appears that the remaining XRP in Coinbase’s wallets largely stems from retail investors. XRPwallets have speculated that other major exchanges like Uphold, Binance, and Upbit may exhibit similar trends with their XRP balances, eventually settling around 200 million XRP each as Ripple’s distributions filter through the ecosystem. Their estimates suggest that there could be about 1 billion XRP dispersed across exchanges, alongside an additional 900 million stored in retail cold wallets.
Though these figures are largely speculative, they echo the sentiment that institutional channels appear to be settling into XRP, potentially relegating exchanges to platforms more favoring retail transactions. Notably, other cryptocurrency exchanges such as Upbit and Uphold have also experienced a drastic reduction in XRP holdings during the same timeframe as Coinbase. For instance, Upbit’s XRP balance dropped from 6.03 billion to 5.84 billion XRP, while Uphold’s declined from 1.907 billion to 1.746 billion XRP.
XRP’s trading position is presently below the $3 resistance mark, facing continuous challenges this month, raising questions about its future price trajectory. A decline in exchange balances could indicate diminished sell pressure, potentially contributing to price stability. As of now, XRP is being traded at $2.83, reflecting a gain of 0.8% in the last 24 hours.
