$XRP is showing a sharp pickup in network participation even as its price struggles to hold ground above the $1 level. According to Santiment data shared by analyst Ali Martinez, active addre
$XRP is showing a sharp pickup in network participation even as its price struggles to hold ground above the $1 level.
According to Santiment data shared by analyst Ali Martinez, active addresses on the XRP Ledger rose from 23,642 on August 1 to 43,543 by August 11, an increase of 84.18% in under two weeks. That jump represents one of the more notable short-term spikes in network engagement recorded this year.
The address growth is only part of the story. On August 5, the XRP Ledger processed more than 2.8 million transactions, marking an 86% increase from the prior week and more than 81% above its 30-day average. Daily transaction counts remained elevated across the week, ranging between 1.3 million and 2.8 million, pushing the seven-day average well above the six-month baseline of 1.83 million, according to The Crypto Basic.
At the same time, activity on centralised exchanges has moved in the opposite direction. Binance deposit addresses fell roughly 96% compared with their monthly and quarterly averages, and XRP deposits and withdrawals on the platform dropped by 79% and 85% respectively versus 90-day norms. Fewer coins flowing through exchanges, combined with higher on-chain usage, is a combination that some analysts read as a sign of accumulation rather than distribution.
The on-chain shift coincides with growing activity among larger holders. Data from Santiment shows the number of wallets holding more than one million XRP has increased by 32 since May 2026. Santiment attributes part of this to growing use of Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin and the continued expansion of the XRP Ledger into tokenisation, payments, and settlement.
The network upgrade context adds another layer. The XRP Ledger's version 3.3.0 introduced privacy features, batch transactions, and sponsored fees aimed at enterprise users, according to CoinMarketCap, pointing to a development roadmap that is tilting toward institutional-grade functionality.
Despite the constructive on-chain picture, $XRP was trading around $1.01 on August 12 after briefly dipping below the psychological $1 support on August 11. The divergence between rising network usage and weak price action has become a recurring theme for XRP in 2026, leaving open the question of whether stronger fundamentals will eventually translate into a sustained price recovery.
Sources:The Crypto Basic: XRP Network Activity Explodes 86% as Exchange Activity CollapsesCoinGape: XRP Price Prediction as Whale Wallets Surge Amid Rising Network Activity
