Ripple to unlock 1 billion XRP amid imminent February sell-off

On the first day of every month, Ripple unlocks 1 billion XRP tokens from an escrow system of the XRP Ledger. On February 1 (Thursday), the company will unlock $500 million worth of tokens in three transactions of 100 million, 400 million, and 500 million XRP.

Interestingly, February 2024’s unlock accounts for 1.84% of the current 54.37 billion circulating supply and 2.19% of the remaining 45.67 billion XRP tokens under Ripple’s control. The latter are still locked in escrows to be released monthly until June 2027.

Three escrows will reach finality in the last minutes of January 31, held by two known crypto wallet addresses owned by Ripple. In particular, ‘Ripple (22)’ will unlock 500 million XRP, previously locked in December 2019.

Second, ‘Ripple (23)’ will unlock 100 million and 400 million tokens, locked in January 2020 and December 2019, respectively. These two addresses still hold 1 billion XRP tokens for monthly escrows that will be unlocked on March 1, 2024.

This is what Ripple did to the 1 billion XRP released in January

1 billion XRP tokens were unlocked, as expected, on January 1. Ripple immediately relocked 800 million (80%) of the total to escrows set to finalize by May and June 2027.

Notably, despite keeping only 200 million XRP, the company spent 226.34 million tokens ($113.17 million) from its main address, ‘Ripple 1,’ in January. The sell-offs occurred in three batches, all sent to the same address, ‘rP4X2…Kxv3’:

As developed, Ripple sent the 200 million XRP to its reserves on January 1. Further, the payment protocol made one transaction of 100 million tokens on January 7, one of 80 million XRP on January 16, and a 46.34 million XRP payment on January 30. The last required using 26.34 million tokens the company previously had in its treasury’s reserves from past unlocks.

How does the escrow system work for Ripple unlocks?

Ripple, founded in 2012, minted 100 billion XRP, allocating 20 billion to its founders and team. The company assured a gradual distribution of the remaining 80 billion XRP.

In 2017, Ripple adopted escrow systems to regulate XRP’s release, committing to unlock one billion XRP monthly over 55 months. Yet, they often re-escrow unused XRP, stretching out the initial distribution timeline.

As XRP is released each month, it contributes to the token’s inflation, with Ripple significantly influencing its market dynamics and value.

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