XRP stabilized near $1.4 after briefly trading above $1.7, while large Binance withdrawals surged to a six-month high. CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost reported that whales moved more than 231 million XRP off Binance in one day. The outflows exceeded $335 million as derivatives pressure rose and Mastercard joined an upcoming XRP Ledger hackathon.
Darkfost said the one-day whale withdrawals stood far above the 90-day average of about $40 million. The analyst described the change as sudden and powerful compared with recent large-holder activity.
The shift came during a strong week for XRP, when its market value increased by $25 billion. The token also gained more than 40% over the same period.
Darkfost said continued accumulation could support a test of the $2 level within a relatively short period. Can sustained whale accumulation offset weaker buying pressure and rising derivatives stress? Ali Martinez also reported a sharp rise in XRP network activity this week. Active addresses climbed to 356,070 from 47,180, an increase of more than 654%.
The derivatives market showed short-term pressure after XRP cleared liquidity near resistance and returned toward a major support area. Long liquidations reached about $4.66 million, up 31.82% in one day. Short liquidations rose 61.61% to nearly $1.13 million. Even so, long liquidations remained almost four times larger by total value.
That imbalance showed that the pullback forced many leveraged long positions out of the market. The sell-off therefore reflected both spot selling and the removal of leveraged positions. CryptoQuant said the clearing of leverage could eventually create room for a healthier rebound. At the same time, XRP’s Money Flow Index fell to 35.89 from around 60.
The lower MFI reading signals weaker buying pressure than during the earlier rally. Still, the indicator remains above 20, so XRP has not entered technically oversold territory.
Mastercard will sponsor an XRP Ledger hackathon that brings developers together before Ripple’s Swell conference. The event will focus on building and launching applications across several areas of the network.
The hackathon includes protocol innovation, agentic finance, lending and borrowing, and an open category. Developers can also expand existing projects by adding XRP Ledger functionality.
The protocol track will cover network development, amendments, client implementations, and developer tools. The agentic finance track will examine applications where software agents can initiate or manage financial activity.
Lending participants can build around the proposed XRP Ledger Lending Protocol and related features. XRPL Commons lists the event on its official calendar.
Read More: XRP ETFs Extend Inflows as Price Pullback Tests the $1.55 Rally
The sponsorship announcement did not disclose Mastercard’s financial contribution, judging role, or technical involvement. It also did not announce access to Mastercard’s payment network or any commercial partnership for participants.
Mastercard has not announced a product created through the hackathon or a new XRPL deployment. No verified XRP market reaction can be tied specifically to the sponsorship announcement.
The company has previously worked with Ripple and other firms on stablecoin settlement and tokenized assets. Its hackathon role therefore places a major payments company inside an event focused on financial applications.
XRP’s recent rally has met weaker buying pressure and heavier long liquidations, even as whale withdrawals and network activity increased sharply. Meanwhile, Mastercard’s hackathon sponsorship adds developer involvement around the XRP Ledger, although the announcement does not confirm a new payment product, XRPL deployment, or direct market impact.