Ripple, the blockchain company behind the XRP, has released 1 billion XRP tokens from its escrow. The firm previously locked the coins in the escrow system to ensure the XRP ecosystem and market stability.
Ripple’s Monthly Unlock Of 1 Billion XRP Tokens
According to data from the on-chain analytics firm Whale Alert, Ripple Labs unlocked 1 billion XRP tokens on June 1, corresponding with its unlocking schedule. Whale Alert captured the three transactions that completed Ripple’s token unlock plans.
Firstly, Ripple unlocked 300 million XRP tokens worth over $154.58 million in the current crypto market prices. The second transaction involved the release of 200 million XRP tokens from Ripple’s escrow worth $103.19 million. And in the last transaction, Ripple unlocked 500 million XRP coins from its escrow system worth over $257.99 million.
A Brief On Ripple Escrow System
Ripple developed the escrow system for locking XRP tokens in 2017. The firm locked 55 billion XRP in a “series of escrows” on the ledger, making up 55% of the token supply.
Each escrow contains 1 billion XRP, which the blockchain firm plans to unlock monthly over 55 months.
According to XRPL.org, the aim is to provide predictability to the token supply. As such, the ledger mechanics are enforced by consensus to enable the release of 1 billion tokens at the scheduled time.
The blockchain company releases the token periodically in a controlled method. This serves as a measure of maintaining stability in the XRP market.
The latest unlock of XRP is part of Ripple’s vision of satisfying investors’ demands and supporting the growing XRP ecosystem.
Also, the firm ensures that all unused XRP tokens are moved back to the escrow system, which helps extend the runway for the rest of the tokens to be unlocked.
XRP Price Action
The latest release of XRP tokens has not impacted the price of XRP in the market. At the time of writing, XRP price trades at $0.5080, indicating a surge of 0.1% over the past 24 hours. Data from CoinMarketCap shows that XRP saw more than a 15% increase over the past 7 days.
On May 31, the crypto on-chain analytics firm, Santiment reported XRP as the top trending crypto asset. Also, the number sixth-ranked crypto by market cap witnessed over a 22% rise in value within the past 19 days.
Santiment also disclosed that address activity on the XRP network reached a historic high, and crowd optimism hit the highest social volume.
The XRP crowd optimism could be connected to the ongoing Ripple vs. SEC lawsuit, which many expect Ripple to win.