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A popular claim circulating in the XRP community alleges that Coinbase is deliberately manipulating the price of XRP. The theory centers around Coinbase sharply reducing its XRP holdings and coordinating large sales to suppress XRP’s market price.
The allegations primarily come from an XRP community member known as Stern Drew, who analyzed on-chain data via XRPScan. Drew argues that Coinbase cut its XRP stash by 70%, routing sales through multiple wallets during low-liquidity hours to mask flows.
According to Drew, these moves coincided with XRP price dips, signaling engineered suppression to benefit institutional buyers allegedly connected with Wall Street and BlackRock.
Drew’s theory includes several key assertions:
No regulator, court, or Coinbase statement has ever confirmed this theory. No investigation or enforcement action is targeting Coinbase for XRP manipulation.
Data confirm that Coinbase reduced its XRP stash from 970 million tokens in June to 260-300 million by late August, while associated wallets shrank from 52 to 16. This 70% cut is real, but such reductions are also consistent with routine liquidity management by large exchanges.
XRP’s price action has historically shown volatility tied to institutional flows, regulatory battles, and wider market sentiment. Other exchanges and OTC desks also display similar transfer patterns.
Here’s where attorney Bill Morgan weighed in. He pointed out:
“One heck of a theory about Coinbase being against XRP. We all know Coinbase is no lover of XRP, but the problem with the theory is that XRP price action just seems to be behaving the same way as it has always behaved, including during the long period when Coinbase delisted XRP and could not have used sell-offs to manipulate the price.”
In other words, XRP has often traded in a way that mirrors broader crypto dynamics, regardless of Coinbase’s role.
Ripple CTO David Schwartz has dismissed claims of manipulation, insisting that market forces and regulatory uncertainty are the true drivers of XRP’s price moves.
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