$XRP Ledger adoption continues to grow in the cryptocurrency space as addresses with 100,000 $XRP and above have hit a new high. As highlighted by market intelligence platform Santiment, 32,054 wallets contain over 100,000 $XRP, which signals active utility on the ledger by institutional holders.
Retail $XRP wallets expand to 5.66 million as institutional interest grows
Notably, holders with over 100,000 $XRP are whales, large investors or early adopters of $XRP.
While the 32,054 wallets might appear small, these holders likely control a huge percentage of the $XRP supply. The growth in the number of wallets with over 100,000 $XRP indicates capital concentration among whales and institutional holders.
📈 $XRP Ledger is continuing to see its network grow. Based on wallet size, here are the amount of addresses under each tier:
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) March 21, 2026
🦐🐟 Less Than 100 $XRP: 5.66M Wallets
🐡🐬 100 to 100K $XRP: 2.01M Wallets
🦈🐳 More Than 100K $XRP: 32,054 Wallets pic.twitter.com/QN1AWIhYBJ
Besides this category of holders, Santiment observed that retail users have expanded further from their 4.7 million wallets in early 2025. These small holders have less than 100 $XRP in their wallets. Currently, the wallet address count of retail holders has hit 5.66 million $XRP wallets.
These comprise small-time investors in the asset, people just testing the network to understand how things work and new users. The almost 1 million addition reveals broad adoption of the coin at the grassroots level.
These new users appear to have confidence in $XRP despite its price volatility. The growth is likely due to positive developments in the Ripple ecosystem, like strategic collaborations with traditional institutions and the firm’s legal battle with the U.S. regulatory body.
The long legal battle between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over $XRP as a "security" or not finally ended in 2025. The SEC has now officially recognized $XRP as a non-security, categorizing it as a commodity.
Regulatory clarity and Ripple developments boost $XRP adoption
Ripple’s win provided legal clarity and opened the path to more adoption, both for institutional and retail holders.
Meanwhile, wallet distribution shows that mid-tier addresses, which contain between 100 and 100,000 $XRP, now stand at 2.01 million. Although these investors hold a sizable amount of the coin, they are not classified as whales.
Overall, the total number of wallets across all tiers indicates that the $XRP ecosystem is expanding. The massive concentration of capital within the over 32,000 wallets can influence the asset’s price direction in the crypto market.
On the other hand, the large base of retail wallets and mid-tier holders shows increased participation among these categories. The development is largely due to the post-2025 regulatory clarity with the asset.
In a related development, $XRP Ledger recently set a new 13-year milestone. Over 7.7 million wallets have at least one $XRP and not a zero balance. The interesting part is that the users are not leaving the coin dormant but actively trading with it.
thecryptobasic.com