XRP’s Senate Catalyst Sends Whales to Eight-Year Accumulation High as Leverage Risks Build
Published on 05/15/2026 at 13:12 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
A landmark vote in the US Senate banking committee has turned XRP into the center of gravity for institutional crypto markets. The bipartisan approval of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on May 14, with 15 votes in favor and nine against, explicitly classifies XRP as a commodity rather than a security. That legal clarity is already drawing in capital at a pace not seen since 2018.
Data from Santiment shows the number of wallets holding at least 10,000 XRP hit a record 332,230 addresses on May 15, extending a accumulation trend that began in June 2024 and accelerated sharply this month. The concentration at the top is even more striking: wallets with minimum balances of 10 million XRP now control roughly 45.83 billion tokens, the highest proportion of the circulating supply in eight years. At current prices that stake is worth approximately $68.5 billion.
The price action reflects the shifting sentiment. XRP spiked to nearly $1.55 on Thursday before settling back to the $1.46–$1.47 range, where it currently trades about 5% above its 50-day moving average. The token has recovered roughly 20% from its February low, and on a weekly basis it is up close to 6%. Analysts point to improving liquidity from regulated products as a key stabilizer.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying XRP?
That liquidity comes from two infrastructure milestones. On May 14, Nasdaq began supporting trading activity tied to the CME CF XRP-Dollar Reference Rate, a benchmark designed for regulated financial products. The same day, Nasdaq-listed XRP products — including a futures ETF and a leveraged ETF — posted steady volumes, helping underpin the price floor. The following day, around $18 million flowed into XRP-focused spot ETFs, pushing total assets under management past $1.2 billion.
Yet the rally carries a double-edged sword. The estimated leverage ratio on Binance climbed to approximately 0.179 on May 15, the highest reading in two months. A heavily leveraged market tends to exaggerate moves in either direction. A dense sell wall sits between $1.44 and $1.46; a clean break above that zone could trigger a cascade of short liquidations that amplifies gains. A reversal, however, risks a liquidation spiral in the opposite direction.
The high attention around XRP has also attracted fraudsters. Ripple chief technology officer David Schwartz warned of a surge in fake airdrop offers using AI-generated deepfakes on Instagram and Telegram. He reiterated that Ripple never distributes free tokens or asks for private wallet keys. Individual victims have lost up to 6,000 XRP in such scams.
All eyes now turn to the full Senate vote, expected during the week before May 21. Market participants assign a better-than-70% probability that the CLARITY Act passes this year. If it does, and the commodity classification becomes law, the next resistance zones at $1.60 and $1.80 come into focus. For now, the tug-of-war between institutional inflows and leveraged speculation keeps XRP in a volatile equilibrium.
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