thecryptobasic.com
A crypto investigator, widely recognized as “Mr. Huber” on X, claims that Ripple often liquidates its XRP holdings to buy Bitcoin, especially during times of significant market upturns for BTC.
Mr. Huber recently reestablished this claim as market participants continue to scrutinize XRP’s underperformance amid its monthly inflation due to Ripple’s persistent escrow unlocks and sales.
The crypto sleuth initiated the conversation on X by calling attention to XRP’s supply increase compared to other assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, and Solana, which have been top performers in this emerging bull run.
Responding to the post, BTC enthusiast Franco Cappello pointed out a graph of XRP’s performance in relation to Bitcoin. The graph depicted a pronounced downtrend for XRP against BTC since July 2023 after XRP briefly rallied to $0.93.
Considering XRP’s downtrend against BTC, Cappello alleged that Ripple increased its Bitcoin holdings through the period. He claimed XRP’s underperformance resulted from Ripple exchanging XRP for Bitcoin.
“Ripple says they let XRP ‘breathe’ in XRP/USD, but I propose they let XRP breathe in XRP/BTC,” Cappello remarked.
However, Capello had no concrete evidence to back up his claims, ascribing it to “common sense.” He claimed that since Ripple understood BTC’s value was bound to take impact amid ETF approvals, it was logical to assume Ripple liquidated XRP to buy Bitcoin.
Brah, common sense, they 100% hold many assets in their balance sheet, including BTC and they are constantly using the XRP chest to rebalance their portfolio, they knew btc was going to go up because of ETFs and they were so hungry to increase their BTC stash.
— Franco Cappello (@loogart) March 13, 2024
Crypto Investigator Agrees
Famous XRP community investigator Mr. Huber attested to the claim, similarly arguing that it is inferable that Ripple sells XRP for Bitcoin. However, he provided more background to his argument.
It's common sense. Ripple is in the liquidity business. They offer BTC and ETH so they have to buy them to offer them. XRP is their most liquid asset at their disposal. Selling XRP for ODL, USD, BTC, ETH, Doge and other assets they offer in their liquidity solutions. Once their… https://t.co/RHzOW3KbRv
— Mr. Huber🔥🦅🔥 (@Leerzeit) March 13, 2024
Mr. Huber highlighted that Ripple is in a liquidity business that requires it to hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other crypto assets. He noted that XRP accounts for the firm’s most liquid crypto holding.
Accordingly, he noted that Ripple must liquidate XRP for other crypto assets used in their On-Demand Liquidity service (now Ripple Payments).
Furthermore, Mr. Huber claimed that when Ripple’s XRP liquidity notably decreases, the company would sell off other assets to repurchase XRP “to build price momentum.” Moreover, he asserted that Ripple typically repeats this process in a cyclical manner.
“[They have been] selling XRP for years to buy BTC. But who am I to create these conspiracy theories,” the crypto sleuth submitted.
Notably, Mr. Huber has been a longstanding champion of the view that Ripple repeatedly sells an underperforming XRP for a better-performing Bitcoin. A few weeks ago, he speculatively attributed Bitcoin’s surge to Ripple by claiming:
“[Ripple] might also be the ones pushing Bitcoin up by buying Bitcoin with XRP first, to then sell Bitcoin at its peak to buy XRP.”