Breaking: Ripple Unleashes 500M XRP – Then Locks 400M Back in Escrow

Ripple just played a high-stakes game of crypto Jenga—unlocking half a billion XRP only to shove 400 million back into escrow. Market watchers are torn: strategic supply management or just another day in the circus of tokenomics?

Why this matters: The 500M release could've flooded the market—but Ripple's quick 400M clawback shows they're still pulling the strings. Price action? Barely a blip. So much for 'decentralized' finance.

Bonus jab: Traders now need a PhD in escrow mechanics just to predict XRP's next move—because fundamentals are so 2017.

Whale Alert on XWhale Alert on X Notably, the number falls short of the typical 1 billion XRP typically unlocked from the Ripple escrow account monthly. While there have not been any other escrow unlocks at the time of writing, there could still be further releases during the course of the month. Meanwhile, the Ripple (27) address did not hold on to the released tokens, as it distributed them quickly to two separate Ripple accounts. First, it shifted 200 million XRP ($434 million) to “rN8pqR” at 23:58 (UTC) yesterday. A few minutes later, the sending account moved another 300 million XRP ($651 million) to the receiving address “rKwJaG.” Meanwhile, the Ripple (27) address still held 500 million XRP after the transactions. Ripple Relocks 400M XRP to Escrow Shortly after the unlocks, Ripple resumed its monthly rebalancing. In particular, the firm locked 400 million XRP ($869 million) with its Ripple (15) address. However, before locking the 400 million XRP, the address received the tokens from two different wallets. Specifically, wallet “rGKHDy” sent 200 million XRP by 23:55 UTC yesterday before “rHGfmg” sent another 200 million three minutes later to the Ripple (15) address. XRP’s Price Inconsistency Meanwhile, the transactions follow XRP’s price inconsistency, following a broader market trend. After breaking to a high of $2.32 on June 30, XRP slumped to $2.15 yesterday following Bitcoin’s retest of the $105,000. At the time of writing, XRP has recovered slightly from yesterday’s lows, trading at $2.18 at the time of writing. Interestingly, a recent analysis has identified that XRP WOULD reach a minimum price target of $6.5 this month and could potentially extend to $8.