XRP plummets nearly 50%, but the wallet surpasses 7.5 million: Are retail investors quietly entering and sending a key signal?

Since Q4 2025, the price of Ripple (XRP) has declined approximately 49%, but on-chain active accounts continue to grow, forming a clear divergence. The latest data shows that the total number of XRP accounts has surpassed 7.5 million, with over 520,000 new wallets added in less than five months, indicating a divergence between market sentiment and network usage.

Looking back at the trend, XRP briefly approached $2.84 in early Q4 2025 and touched $3.1 briefly, but was then hit by a sharp sell-off. During the market volatility in October, it evaporated over $1 in a single day. Currently, the price hovers around $1.44, marking four consecutive months of monthly declines and approaching the rare fifth consecutive decline in history.

Contrasting with the price movement are on-chain data. Since September 2025, when the number of wallets surpassed 7 million, over 526,000 new addresses have been added in just a few months, averaging 2,500 to 5,000 accounts per day. There have also been multiple days of sharp increases, with a record high in mid-November. Although the growth rate has slowed slightly compared to the previous cycle, this performance still demonstrates a stable user base amid a broader crypto market cap shrinkage of over $1 trillion.

The market environment is also under pressure. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum experienced significant volatility, with risk assets generally declining. However, the ongoing expansion of the XRP network indicates that some investors are choosing to position at low levels, mainly for long-term holding and cross-border payment applications, rather than short-term speculation.

This phenomenon of “price decline, participation in upward movement” has occurred after many market deep corrections and often accompanies phased recoveries. Although short-term sentiment remains cautious, the continuous increase in wallet numbers suggests that the market has not been completely drained. If this divergence persists, a macroeconomic improvement could lead to a more elastic price response in the future.