Coinbase’s XRP Mystery Gets Deep in Coinstane US Exchange for $51,848,056

Anyone who tracks flows over the XRP chain over the past few weeks has noticed a consistent pattern. Anonymous wallets send millions of XRPs to Coinbase, and these transfers are massive.

The most recent transfer occurred earlier today when XRP 16.71 million (just over $51.8 million) moved from an address that had no connection to Coinbase. This amount is not random. This is roughly the same as the “slice size” that has been repeatedly seen in recent wallet reshuffling of major US Exchanges.

The backstory begins in June when the “XRPWallets” account maps 52 cold wallets linked to Coinbase. Ten of these wallets each held around 26.8 million XRPs, while the remaining 42 wallets each held around 16.8 million XRPs. This totals a total of XRP of 974 million.

Currently, only 23 of these wallets fit a recognizable pattern, according to the same tracker. Each wallet contains approximately 16.5 million XRP, totaling around 379.5 million. That’s about XRP 594 million less than the holdings seen in June, down over 60% in the set of wallets the trackers can currently identify.

The new influx of 16.71 million XRP fits neatly into the same “slice size” suggesting internal redistribution rather than random influx.

Missing link

The clear reason for the shuffle is unknown. The token may have been moved to a new wallet, an external custodian, or withdrawn by a small number of large clients. These platforms may be connected to Ripple’s ODL network.

Blockchains can view token locations and movements, but do not explain why. Until Coinbase addresses this, visible evidence is a shrinking public stash, a sense of repetitive numbers and hidden plans.