April Was a Big Month for Whales Targeting Ripple XRP and Bitcoin (BTC)

April was a big month for whales and cryptocurrencies, especially for those targeting Ripple XRP and Bitcoin (BTC).

April saw a substantial build-up in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ripple’s XRP among major cryptocurrency wallets, amassing over $4 billion in BTC and 900 million XRP, according to the latest data and analysis.

BTC Surges Past $90k Following Heavy Accumulation

Bitcoin experienced a significant price increase during a period of intense accumulation by large wallets, surging over the $90,000 mark for the first time in over a year.

As CryptoMode previously reported, despite the recent price pullback, Bitcoin is currently trading just $3,000 below the $100,000 mark, according to CoinGecko.

It seems that the leg up in BTC came during a heavy accumulation phase that saw whales moving over $4 billion in the flagship cryptocurrency.

The majority of these BTC units were acquired at prices ranging from $40,000 to $60,000, as highlighted by popular crypto analyst Ali Martinez.

However, it’s worth noting that a smaller portion, valued at around $500 million, was accumulated at price levels varying from $70,000 to $80,000.

The majority of the BTC units acquired by major wallets, amounting to 60%, were later sold at price points ranging from $50,000 to $70,000.

However, a portion of these BTC units, approximately 40%, were subsequently sold at price levels varying from $70,000 to $80,000.

The significant build-up in BTC during the past year stands in stark contrast to the limited activity observed among major Ethereum (ETH) wallets during the same period.

Despite the lower volume of transactions, major ETH wallets still managed to accumulate a substantial sum of over $2 billion in ETH, Martinez further pointed out.

XRP ETF Approval on the Horizon?

Another interesting finding is that the same cohort of wallets holding between 10 million and 100 million XRP have scooped up 900 million tokens, worth just under $2 billion at current prices.

That cohort now controls 7.77 billion, or roughly 13% of the circulating supply— a $17 billion position, according to Martinez.

Whales bought around 900 million $XRP over the past month!

This comes as the possibility of an XRP spot ETF being approved in the U.S. is heating up. It’s probably the biggest catalyst here.

An ETF approval is estimated by this summer, according to Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas, pegging a 85% chance. Moreover, analysts suggest that an XRP ETF could drive over $8 billion in inflows within the first six months of trading.

The official deadline is October, but the frontrunning has already started. If the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) greenlights the product, demand could spike quickly.

Spot ETFs offer retail and institutional investors a clean, compliant on-ramp. No wallets, no custody stress, just shares. Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, 21Shares, and WisdomTree are already lining up to compete for first-mover status.

Despite XRP gaining ground on the ETF front, its footprint in the stablecoin sector seems to be weakening. The company’s RLUSD stablecoin has barely crossed a $330 million market cap. Nothing compared to any of its competitors.

Oddly enough, Ripple is interested in buying Circle, the issuer of USD Coin (USDC), but Circle rejected the offer.