Ripple Labs Locks 400 Million XRP in Escrow Amid Schedule Changes
Whale Alert reported that Ripple Labs locked approximately 400 million XRP in escrow, valued at around $876 million. This follows an unusual adjustment in their escrow release pattern.
Escrow Token Process Changes
- Ripple traditionally releases 1 billion XRP from escrow monthly.
- Starting early 2025, the escrow process was altered to include internal relocations before actual unlocks.
- In March, Ripple unlocked tokens without creating new escrows, indicating a shift in strategy.
- This July, 500 million XRP was unlocked and subsequently sent to the company in two transfers of 300 million and 200 million XRP.
- There is speculation that some of the transferred XRP may be used for On-demand Liquidity (ODL) operations and strategic partnerships.
- A third transfer of 300 million XRP occurred on July 2 but appeared to fail, highlighting ongoing issues with the escrow process.
- On June 4, Ripple released $2.2 billion in XRP, locking 670 million back into escrow, deviating from its usual schedule.
- It currently holds around 5 billion XRP, not the previously stated 38 billion in escrow.
Launch of XRPL EVM Sidechain
The XRP Ledger (XRPL) launched its Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible sidechain on mainnet, marking a significant development for the network. This collaboration among Ripple, Peersyst, and Axelar enables full Ethereum smart contract functionality within the XRP ecosystem. The launch facilitates the deployment of Decentralized Applications (dApps).
Initial market reactions saw XRP's price hover around $2.20, but it has since dropped slightly to $2.19, experiencing a 0.87% decrease in the last 24 hours.