As expected, the first day of September brought Ripple escrow transactions, and as always the scale is hard to miss. Whale Alert tracked several transfers in quick succession: 500,000,000 XRP equivalent to $1,380,340,882 were unlocked and sent to a Ripple wallet. Then, 300,000,000 XRP worth $830,158,847 and 200,000,000 XRP equal to $553,278,406 were unlocked.
Not all of that supply will hit the market, however. By the end of the sequence, Ripple returned 700,000,000 XRP to escrow: 400,000,000 XRP valued at $1,104,530,305 and 300,000,000 XRP valued at $828,023,264.
This results in a net release of 300,000,000 XRP for September, which is consistent with the company's usual pattern of unlocking 1 billion, distributing some of it and relocking what's left.
Why does Ripple shuffle XRP?
This system was introduced years ago to make XRP's circulating supply more predictable. Each month, Ripple opens a fresh tranche of 1 billion XRP from escrow. The tokens are available for use in Ripple’s ecosystem or for institutional demand.
Whatever remains unused, however, is locked back for a later cycle. It’s a rolling mechanism that currently covers about 35.6 billion XRP in escrow.
Net supply increases can weigh on price action, while larger relocks reduce that pressure. This time, the balance appears moderate: 300 million XRP were freed up, worth just over $830 million at the current value, with most of it pushed back into long-term hold.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team