Kraken Shifts 82,277,388 XRP Worth $246M to Unknown Wallet

A transaction involving crypto exchange Kraken, an unidentified wallet, and a staggering amount of XRP is raising eyebrows in the crypto community.

For context, Whale Alert reported on August 1 that Kraken has just moved 82,277,388 XRP, worth $246.4 million, to an unknown wallet. Considering the recent market standing and the direction of the transaction, reactions suggested that it was a whale buying the dip.

Kraken Transfers Millions of XRP to Unidentified Address

Notably, further details of the transaction showed it happened at exactly 12:50 (UTC) on Friday. Sending address “rLHzPs,” marked as a Kraken wallet, moved approximately $246.5 million to receiving address “rp7TCc,” whose identity remains unidentified according to Whale Alert.

The said shuffle happened over 12 hours ago, data confirming it happened exactly at 00:44 (UTC) today. Notably, “rLHzPs,” which is the sending address from the earlier transaction, was part of this XRP shift, but this time as a receiving address.

The unmarked sending address, “rJHkpN,” moved 31,852,903 XRP ($95 million) to the Kraken address today, according to XRPScan. Interestingly, we discovered that the sending address in this transaction also has an affiliation with Kraken.

For context, XRPScan shows that address “rrhT2Hd” activated the sending address on July 10, 2024. Analysis also revealed that it was a “Kraken (1)” account that also activated it on June 21, 2024.

In simpler terms, both transactions were just Kraken shifting funds from one wallet to another, probably from its hot wallet to a secured self-custody wallet for storage or vice versa.

Kraken Also Transferring Other Cryptocurrencies

Notably, Whale Alert reported several other transactions involving Kraken and an unknown wallet today. Kraken moved 1.89 million LINK ($31.2 million) to an unmarked address by 11:16 (UTC) and 680 BTC ($78.4 million) by 09:31 (UTC).

Kraken Moving Cryptocurrencies to New Addresses

Remarkably, all transactions involved moving the cryptocurrencies from the Kraken Cold Wallet to multiple trading platforms. At the time of writing, the specific reason behind these transactions remains unknown. Still, their direction suggests it is to provide liquidity, potentially due to sell-offs as the market crashes.