Blockchain tracking platform Whale Alert has revealed the release of 400 million XRP tokens from escrow. However, the wallet from which these $213.9 million worth of Ripple-linked assets were released remains unknown.
Is Ripple Behind the 400M XRP Unlock
The unknown identity of the wallet is unlike usual XRP escrow unlocks that are usually done by crypto payments platform Ripple Labs Inc. A similar situation was seen last month when a staggering 500 million XRP valued at approximately 314.87 million due to market value at the time, was unlocked from escrow from an unknown wallet.
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) May 3, 2024
While there are speculations about the wallet’s identity, it is worth noting that Ripple once announced its intention to lock 55 billion coins in escrow, and then release 1 billion coins each month often distributed across two or three transactions.
The rationale behind this approach is to regulate the token’s market dynamics. These unlocks tend to boost the supply of the crypto in the market and thereafter, impact the price of the underlying coin. Precisely, it may momentarily dampen prices, in this case XRP’s. Pro-XRP lawyer Bill Morgan has often talked down this method as he stated that it is not a novel approach.
800M XRP Locked In Escrow In May
A few days ago, Coingape reported another unlocked 800 million XRP from escrow and this time around, it was confirmed that Ripple was behind the process. This particular unlock from escrow saw the price of XRP dip 2.74% to $0.4995, while its trading volume rose 31.66% to $1.37 billion.
Almost immediately, Ripple allegedly locked the 800 million XRP in escrow accounts. This was around the same time when there was a series of other hefty transfers, sparking speculations over the potential motive of Ripple behind the transfers.
Markedly, the latest 400 million coin escrow unlock coincides with a significant jump in the price of the XRP token. At press time, XRP was trading at $0.5318 with a 2.01% increase within the last 24 hours. It is, however, not certain if the XRP escrow unlocks or another metric contributed to the spike in price.
XRP needed this uptick as the updates in the Ripple versus SEC lawsuit have generated neutral sentiments this past month.
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