Ripple Unlocks 1B XRP As Escrow Balance Falls Below 40B XRP

Leading cryptocurrency payment firm Ripple has unlocked another 1B XRP from escrow as the company’s escrow balance decreases below 40 billion XRP.

In a routine procedure, Ripple has unlocked another 1 billion XRP from its escrow accounts. The leading crypto whale tracking service, Whale Alert, observed and reported the development today.

Details of the Transaction

According to Whale Alert, Ripple unlocked the 1B XRP in three different transactions. Ripple unleashed a massive 500M XRP valued at approximately $301 million for the first transaction from one of its escrow accounts.

🔓 🔓 🔓 🔓 🔓 🔓 🔓 🔓 🔓 🔓 500,000,000 #XRP (301,009,952 USD) unlocked from escrow at #Ripplehttps://t.co/nyX6GupB9w

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) December 1, 2023

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Subsequently, another 300M XRP coins worth $180.6 million were unlocked around the same time.

🔓 🔓 🔓 🔓 🔓 🔓 🔓 🔓 300,000,000 #XRP (180,605,971 USD) unlocked from escrow at #Ripplehttps://t.co/CGRt07c3dR

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) December 1, 2023

 

The final transaction saw 200M XRP ($120.4 million) unlocked from Ripple’s escrow account.

🔓 🔓 🔓 🔓 🔓 200,000,000 #XRP (120,403,980 USD) unlocked from escrow at #Ripplehttps://t.co/d4QRv0dlSY

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) December 1, 2023

Based on XRP’s current value of around $0.61, the 1B tokens unlocked were worth $610 million.

XRP Market Cap Increases By $5B In Months

Ripple’s monthly token unlock did not surprise many, as the development has become a customary practice.

This is reflected in the current performance of XRP. Data from CoinGecko shows that XRP was up 1.5% over the past 24 hours despite the release of 1B coins.

In addition, XRP has maintained the fifth position in the global crypto ranking, with its valuation standing at $32.8 billion. It bears mentioning that XRP ended Q3 2023 with a market cap of $27.8.

Notably, the current $32.8 billion market cap suggests that XRP’s valuation has grown by $5 billion since October 1, 2023.

Ripple Escrow System

Recall that Ripple introduced the escrow system in December 2017 as part of an effort to stabilize the XRP market. As a result, the company locked 55 billion XRP in different escrow accounts, with a plan to release 1B each over 55 months.

However, the company took further steps to stabilize the XRP market. As seen in previous months, Ripple usually locks back a significant portion of XRP shortly after unlocking the programmed 1B coins.

At press time, Ripple has yet to return some of the newly unlocked 1B coins to the escrow account.

Ripple Now Holds 39.9B XRP in Escrow

Following its latest token unlock, Ripple now holds 39.9 billion XRP in its escrow accounts. Recall that on November 1, 2023, the crypto payments firm had 40.1 billion XRP locked in escrow shortly after releasing 1B tokens.

In an expected move, Ripple locked back 800M XRP from the released 1B coins, thus bringing its total escrow holdings to 40.9 billion XRP.

With 1B XRP unlocked on December 1, the company’s escrow balance now stands at 39.9 billion. It is expected that Ripple will lock some amounts of the newly unlocked XRP while the remaining tokens will be sold in the open market.

Critics Slam Ripple Monthly Sale

Despite Ripple’s efforts to stabilize the XRP market, critics have slammed the company for suppressing XRP’s price due to its monthly market sales.

One of the critics, Jerry Hall, said Ripple benefits from selling XRP monthly by using the funds to finance its business. He argued that while XRP holders finance Ripple’s operations, the firm, in return, does not reciprocate this effort.