Who owns the most XRP, and how many people hold it?

The full answer

Who holds the largest amounts of XRP?

The largest identified balance is Ripple’s escrow. XRP Insights reported on September 26, 2026 that Ripple’s on-ledger escrow held 31.98 billion XRP, 32.0% of the fixed 100 billion supply, with a further 4.74 billion XRP in operational wallets [1]. Bitcoin.com News reported the same two figures on September 28, 2026 [2]. XRP Insights sums the escrow directly from Escrow objects on the XRP Ledger [1]. How the escrow releases XRP each month is covered in how the XRP escrow works.

Exchanges come next as a group. XRP Insights reported that publicly attributed exchange wallets held 21.14 billion XRP as of September 26, 2026, after a net change of -625.9 million XRP that week [1]. XRP Insights reads these balances from attributed XRPL wallets and calls the total a verified floor, because only wallets it can attribute are counted [1].

Funds and treasury companies hold smaller amounts. Bitcoin.com News reported that custodians for seven funds held 1,179.62 million XRP, equal to 1.18% of the fixed 100 billion supply [2]. By the same report, Bitwise’s fund held 413.1 million XRP, Franklin Templeton’s XRPZ 293.1 million, Canary Capital’s XRPC 249.8 million, 21Shares’ TOXR 107.4 million, Grayscale’s GXRP 59.8 million, Rex-Osprey’s XRPR 35.2 million, and Bitwise’s index fund BITW 21.2 million [2]. XRP Insights reported that, as of September 26, 2026, US spot ETFs held 1.16 billion XRP, using figures from each issuer’s own website [1]. More detail is on how much XRP the US spot ETFs hold.

FXStreet reported on August 28, 2026 that the treasury company Evernorth held 473.2 million XRP [4]. Evernorth said its investors include Ripple, SBI Group, Pantera Capital and Kraken [4]. FXStreet reported that Armada shareholders were scheduled to vote on the merger on September 30, and that if approved the combined company is expected to list on Nasdaq under XRPN [4]. Armada II shareholders approved the merger on September 30, 2026; the business combination proposal received 20,514,034 votes for and 1,362,081 against, according to Armada’s Form 8-K [8]. See what Evernorth is for its structure.

Ripple’s own last quarterly figures are older. In its Q1 2025 XRP Markets Report, Ripple reported holding 4,562,433,147 XRP and 37,130,000,005 XRP in on-ledger escrow on March 31, 2025 [3]. In the same report Ripple said it would sunset the report in its current form starting in Q2 2025, and would maintain public access to its XRP holdings on its website [3]. For how the original supply was allocated, see how the original 100 billion XRP was distributed.

Why don’t large wallets mean a few rich owners?

The biggest balances outside Ripple belong to exchanges and fund custodians, and each of those pools coins for many customers. A count of large addresses therefore overstates how concentrated XRP is among individuals, and a count of addresses understates how many people hold it. This rests on the exchange-wallet figure from XRP Insights [1] and the custodian holdings reported by Bitcoin.com News [2].

The categories also overlap. Ripple’s Q1 2025 report says XRP that Ripple transfers to third parties such as ETPs and trusts, but expects to keep in its holdings, stays counted in “XRP Held by Ripple” [3]. Adding Ripple, fund and exchange totals can count some coins twice, a problem covered in whether ETF, treasury, DeFi and derivatives XRP can be added together.

XRP on an exchange is held in wallets the exchange operates. 24/7 Wall St. reported that on September 24, 2026, Bitget reported losing 103 million XRP in a breach linked to North Korea [5]. A customer balance on an exchange is a claim on that exchange, so its risks differ from a wallet the owner controls; the Bitget theft page covers what happened to customer funds.

How many people own XRP, and what estimate is sourced?

As of October 1, 2026, the number of people who own XRP has not been established by any public source. The nearest measured figures count ledger entries. Ripple reported 8,535,483 trustlines and 423,727 new wallets on the XRP Ledger for Q1 2025 [3].

Neither figure counts people. One person can open many wallets, one exchange wallet can serve many customers, and fund shareholders own no XRP wallet at all. A sourced estimate of holders would need exchange customer counts and fund shareholder counts, and no public source in hand publishes these for XRP as of October 1, 2026.

Ripple reported 423,727 new XRP Ledger wallets in Q1 2025, down 40.28% from 709,545 in Q4 2024 [3].

How concentrated is XRP compared with bitcoin and ether by the same measure?

As of October 1, 2026, no public source has established a comparison of XRP, bitcoin and ether ownership concentration on the same measure.

Such a comparison would need the same method on each chain, including the same rules for labelling exchange and custodian wallets. XRP Insights’ own exchange total is a floor limited to wallets it can attribute [1], so a different labelling method could produce a different concentration figure for the same ledger.

Is ownership more concentrated than the custodial explanation suggests?

The custodial explanation does not cover the largest holder. Ripple’s escrow and operational wallets are one company’s holdings, not pooled customer accounts. By the XRP Insights figures for September 26, 2026, the two together came to about 36.72 billion XRP, roughly 36.7% of supply [1].

Ripple’s links reach beyond its own wallets. Evernorth listed Ripple among its investors, according to FXStreet on August 28, 2026 [4]. Ripple’s Q1 2025 report said XRP it moves to ETPs and trusts can still be counted as Ripple’s [3].

Ripple’s own disclosure has also narrowed. In its Q1 2025 XRP Markets Report, dated May 5, 2025, Ripple said that its transparency has been used against the company, most notably by former SEC leadership, and that it had decided to sunset the report in its current form starting in Q2 2025. The September 2026 figures for Ripple’s wallets come from a third-party tracker, not from a Ripple quarterly report [1]. Whether large holders are adding to their balances is examined on whether XRP whales are accumulating.