In a video released on Thursday, cryptocurrency commentator Zach Rector dismissed a circulating claim — popularized by influencer Jake Clover — that XRP tokens are being secretly exchanged at a price of $100,000 per token inside secret "dark pools." Rector's rebuttal aims to reassure newbies who are fearful about this rumor and refocus the discussion on verifiable market mechanisms rather than conspiracy stories suppressing prices.
XRP OTC trading is not market manipulation.
The rector opened the broadcast program by calling the thesis "a new round of misinformation and FUD", emphasizing that "institutions [will not] receive XRP at $100,000 on the private ledger. That will not happen." He explained that what social media accounts currently label as "dark pool" is simply decentralized exchanges (OTC) — private bilateral venues that large holders have used for decades in stocks, foreign exchange, and more recently, digital assets.
"There is nothing new or specific regarding XRP," he said, adding that Ripple Labs has sold part of its treasury through OTC since 2019 without affecting the open market price. Indeed, XRP has "surged since November," Rector noted, even as Ripple distributed new issuance to institutional partners.
Most of Clover's accusations revolve around the idea that a private, separate version of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) has its own price—much higher than the public market price. Rector calls that concept a fundamental misunderstanding of how Ripple's enterprise tool works.
Central bank or government pilots often request a "private ledger where they can keep messages and transactions hidden from the public eye," he acknowledged, but those environments are licensed sidechains or wrapped derivative products. "XRP only exists on the public XRP Ledger that we all use [...]. Your XRP can never leave the XRP Ledger," he stated. If testers want to model six-digit pricing for stress testing purposes, then "that is not real XRP, never has been, and never will be."
To emphasize this point, the Rector quoted Ripple's Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, who "has addressed this issue" and clarified that "there are no two prices of XRP." The Rector also provided examples from other enterprise-focused chains—the hybrid architecture of XDC and the "Metagraph" deployment of Constellation's Department of Defense—to illustrate that privacy partitioning is standard practice, not evidence of hidden liquidity at surreal pricing.
OTC buyers receive a discount
While some retail traders are concerned that Wall Street will happily pay a huge premium behind closed doors, Rector argues that the economy is being reversed: "Why would an organization pay $10,000 for each XRP on a private ledger [...] when it is available on the public market for $2?" OTC exchanges exist precisely so that whales can accumulate "without moving the market," not to overpay.
In fact, history shows that Ripple often grants institutional partners a discount, rather than a markup—something revealed during the discovery process in the SEC lawsuit against Ripple. The rector reminds viewers that Ripple's dataset includes "over 1,700 NDAs" and R3 once negotiated an option to purchase five billion XRP "at less than a cent" over three years, ultimately only accepting one billion when the broader partnership soured. None of those figures reached six-figure imaginings.
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Cryptocurrency experts expose the theory of 'Dark Pool' XRP worth 100,000 dollars
In a video released on Thursday, cryptocurrency commentator Zach Rector dismissed a circulating claim — popularized by influencer Jake Clover — that XRP tokens are being secretly exchanged at a price of $100,000 per token inside secret "dark pools." Rector's rebuttal aims to reassure newbies who are fearful about this rumor and refocus the discussion on verifiable market mechanisms rather than conspiracy stories suppressing prices. XRP OTC trading is not market manipulation. The rector opened the broadcast program by calling the thesis "a new round of misinformation and FUD", emphasizing that "institutions [will not] receive XRP at $100,000 on the private ledger. That will not happen." He explained that what social media accounts currently label as "dark pool" is simply decentralized exchanges (OTC) — private bilateral venues that large holders have used for decades in stocks, foreign exchange, and more recently, digital assets. "There is nothing new or specific regarding XRP," he said, adding that Ripple Labs has sold part of its treasury through OTC since 2019 without affecting the open market price. Indeed, XRP has "surged since November," Rector noted, even as Ripple distributed new issuance to institutional partners. Most of Clover's accusations revolve around the idea that a private, separate version of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) has its own price—much higher than the public market price. Rector calls that concept a fundamental misunderstanding of how Ripple's enterprise tool works. Central bank or government pilots often request a "private ledger where they can keep messages and transactions hidden from the public eye," he acknowledged, but those environments are licensed sidechains or wrapped derivative products. "XRP only exists on the public XRP Ledger that we all use [...]. Your XRP can never leave the XRP Ledger," he stated. If testers want to model six-digit pricing for stress testing purposes, then "that is not real XRP, never has been, and never will be." To emphasize this point, the Rector quoted Ripple's Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, who "has addressed this issue" and clarified that "there are no two prices of XRP." The Rector also provided examples from other enterprise-focused chains—the hybrid architecture of XDC and the "Metagraph" deployment of Constellation's Department of Defense—to illustrate that privacy partitioning is standard practice, not evidence of hidden liquidity at surreal pricing. OTC buyers receive a discount While some retail traders are concerned that Wall Street will happily pay a huge premium behind closed doors, Rector argues that the economy is being reversed: "Why would an organization pay $10,000 for each XRP on a private ledger [...] when it is available on the public market for $2?" OTC exchanges exist precisely so that whales can accumulate "without moving the market," not to overpay. In fact, history shows that Ripple often grants institutional partners a discount, rather than a markup—something revealed during the discovery process in the SEC lawsuit against Ripple. The rector reminds viewers that Ripple's dataset includes "over 1,700 NDAs" and R3 once negotiated an option to purchase five billion XRP "at less than a cent" over three years, ultimately only accepting one billion when the broader partnership soured. None of those figures reached six-figure imaginings.