Bitcoin and XRP Surge Post-Trump Announcement

Billions in XRP tokens and thousands of bitcoins were sent to exchanges shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump revealed plans for a U.S. crypto strategic reserve. This may have contributed to rapid price reversals following an initial surge.

XRP Inflows

Hourly inflows reached up to 193 million XRP after Trump’s message, with most transactions executed by whales (influential holders of assets) moving 1 million or more XRP, according to on-chain analysis firm CryptoQuant in a Tuesday report.

Bitcoin Inflows

Conversely, the hourly amount of Bitcoin (BTC) flowing into exchanges skyrocketed from 500-1,000 to a high of 6,739 BTC a day after the announcement. Ethereum (ETH) inflows also spiked to nearly 300,000 in just an hour.

Typically, inflows to exchanges from funds and traders suggest an intention to sell, as large token holdings are generally kept in cold (offline) wallets.

Market Analysis

CryptoQuant analysts noted that the rise and subsequent decline of cryptocurrencies on Monday and Tuesday indicated that real spot demand has entered a contraction phase.

“Bitcoin apparent demand growth has continued to decline after a period of acceleration in November–December 2024, spurred by the U.S. election results. It’s now in contraction territory for the first time since September 2024,” analysts stated.

Unless Bitcoin demand increases again, sustaining a rally in cryptocurrency prices will be challenging.

Apparent demand is an on-chain metric used to evaluate the balance between Bitcoin’s production (newly minted coins through mining) and inventory changes (inactive coins for over a year). Retail accumulation has decreased since early November, as previously reported by CoinDesk.