XRP token’s creator and largest holder, Ripple, appears to own about 46.10 billion XRP that is currently locked in escrow wallets and is not part of the circulating supply. On December 1st, Ripple released 1 billion tokens worth $645 million and retained 20% of the total.
Current Situation of XRP Coin
In order to fulfill a commitment made in the past, Ripple has been unlocking an additional 1 billion tokens every month. The company typically continues to hold only a portion of this and frequently injects the rest into the market through sales. Situations that affect the long-term value of the asset have been revealed by tracking the unlocking operations, as revealed by XRP Scan.
In December, Ripple chose to retain 200 million XRP, which was roughly worth $130 million, given XRP’s value at the time of $0.641.
The company prepared its sales activity for this month as shown in the graph below. Specifically, 200 million XRP was transferred from Ripple (22) to Ripple (1). It is important to note that both crypto wallet addresses are controlled by the company. The first wallet owned by Ripple is considered an escrow address, while the second is considered a liquid treasury.
Recent Developments and Future of XRP Coin
A similar path was followed in November and October, with the unlocking of 1 billion XRP from the two addresses controlled by the company. The unlocked tokens were then distributed to three other addresses of the same size. The events unfolded as follows:
- Ripple (1) received 200 million XRP, which is still liquid and ready to be spent, from Ripple (22).
- Ripple (11) received 300 million XRP from Ripple (22) and locked these funds into two new escrow wallets, each containing 100 million and 200 million XRP, scheduled to be unlocked in April and May 2027 respectively.
- Ripple (10) received 500 million XRP from Ripple (23) and locked all of them into another escrow wallet, scheduled to be unlocked by May 2027.
Interestingly, both Ripple (22) and Ripple (23) still hold 3 billion XRP each for monthly escrow wallets to be unlocked until March 1, 2024.
The unlocking of these tokens is considered a significant part of XRP’s supply inflation, and crypto investors should closely monitor such events to see their impact on prices.
