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- Ripple (XRP) is reported to have released 1 billion XRP into circulation, neutralizing the bullish sentiments triggered by the recent settlement updates.
- Ripple’s CTO has clarified that the company has always released XRP on the first day of each month, but it does not necessarily appear on “ledger activity.”
XRP’s bullish momentum was cut short on Saturday, August 9, when a Ripple escrow account triggered a market liquidation by unlocking 1 billion XRP into circulation.
Prior to that, the price of XRP had surged from $3.1 to $3.36, causing a 54,781% liquidation imbalance in just an hour, with short position traders losing $281,180 in the process. As noted in our previous report, XRP then retreated by 13% after earlier reacting to the Ripple vs SEC resolution update.
Ripple’s Token Unlock
According to the news first reported by blockchain transaction tracker Whale Alert, 500 million XRP were initially released by the Ripple escrow, followed by 100 million and 400 million tokens. Cumulatively, these amounted to about $3.28 billion worth of the asset.
The last time we checked, more than 35.6 billion XRP were still held in escrow. A couple of weeks ago, three batches of XRP (500 million, 100 million, and another 100 million) were transferred to the escrow for onward release.
The company has historically released 1 billion XRP monthly as part of the plan that started in 2017, when 55 billion tokens were moved to escrow for transparent and structured distribution. However, a section of the XRP community appears concerned about how this disrupts market momentum.
Following the recent release, a user identified on X as Rajat Soni, took a dig at the company, calling out their subtle call for investment while they “dump” their holdings. Fascinatingly, many users objected to this claim, clarifying that this is how the asset works.
Another concern of this monthly unlock is the inconsistencies in the specific day of release. Just as this month, April’s release was spotted days after the month began, as highlighted in our previous news brief.
Addressing this concern, Ripple CTO David Schwartz confirmed that the escrow release is a routine activity and actually occurs on the first day of each month. However, the ledger has to wait for a submission before it publicly displays the details.
They always release on the first day of the month. You may not necessarily see any on ledger activity just because the escrow has released though. The ledger doesn’t do anything by itself, it always waits for someone to submit a transaction to trigger it.
XRP Attempting a Rebound
XRP is currently attempting a rebound as it records positive returns across all the major trading sessions, including a 1% surge in the last 24 hours and 9.8% gains in the last seven days. According to CoinMarketCap data, XRP has surged from a daily low of $3.1 to $3.28 in an attempt to break the $3.3 resistance level.
Commenting on this price action, analyst Lingri pointed out that the $3.1 and the $3.2 levels are the perfect entry point while $3.4 exists as a confirmation of the buy trigger. According to our recent analysis, XRP could reach $5 in the short term. As also indicated in our earlier discussion, analyst Egrag Crypto believes that XRP could hit $17 by the end of this cycle.
