One billion XRP was unlocked on September 1 from Ripple’s escrow system, which has been used by the controlling company to put new tokens into circulation since 2017. However, as also happens every month, Ripple only kept a fraction of September’s tokens unlocked, to be sold to the market at the team’s will.
Notably, 800 million XRP ($400 million) were re-locked into two different escrows, accounting for 80% of the unlocked total. This means that Ripple only kept 200 million XRP ($100 million) for itself, which can be deployed to the market at any moment, possibly impacting the token’s price short term.
According to data retrieved by Finbold from the Whale Alert (@whale_alert) account on X and from XRP Scan, the 1 billion XRP was unlocked by two Ripple known accounts (Ripple 22 and Ripple 23) in four different transactions.
Monthly escrow Ripple (XRP) | September 2023. Source: XRP Scan (Vini Barbosa @ Finbold)
XRP price analysis
Meanwhile, XRP is trading at $0.50, by press time. Registering 1.7% losses since the 1 billion tokens unlock on September 1.
XRP 1-week price chart. Source: Finbold
In a demonstration of how the token unlocks could affect the price for the fifth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with a circulating supply of around 52.977 billion XRP, one XRP would be worth close to $2.48, if it reaches its all-time high market cap. Which is 27% less than XRP’s all-time high price in US dollars from 2018.
Interestingly, the 200 million new XRP being put into circulation this month accounts for 0.37% of the token’s circulating supply. If Ripple only kept the same amount every month, this would mean a yearly inflation of around 4.4% for XRP holders.
Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
