In a recent development, Whale Alert has reported a significant influx of 700 million XRPs, equivalent to a staggering $357 million, into Ripple accounts. This surge follows a massive unlock that occurred on June 1, leaving 300 million tokens still circulating the market out of the one billion XRPs initially issued from Ripple's escrow accounts.
🔒 🔒 🔒 🔒 🔒 🔒 🔒 🔒 🔒 🔒 300,000,000 #XRP (152,704,922 USD) locked in escrow at Ripple Escrow wallet https://t.co/6hj1kCk8pI
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) June 1, 2023
Escrow ties
Ripple, a leading cryptocurrency company, has been systematically releasing XRP from its escrow accounts as part of its strategy to establish a more predictable supply of the token. Initially, these accounts held 55% of the total XRP supply of 99.9 billion tokens, but that percentage has now decreased to 41.9% due to the gradual unlocking process.
Introduced at the end of 2017, this initiative aimed to bring stability to the volatile XRP market. The escrow accounts securely hold one billion tokens each, and a portion is released on a monthly basis over an initial period of four and a half years. This controlled release system has sparked an ongoing debate regarding its influence on the price of XRP.
Advocates of the monthly releases argue that the predictability that the unlocking process provides helps mitigate market fluctuations. By gradually introducing XRP into circulation, Ripple aims to provide market participants with a more transparent and controlled supply, reducing the likelihood of sudden price swings.