Ripple has unlocked 1 billion $XRP as part of its regular monthly escrow release, according to blockchain transaction tracker Whale Alert.
Three transactions released 500 million, 400 million, and 100 million $XRP from Ripple-controlled escrow accounts
The September release follows Ripple’s established escrow mechanism, under which up to 1 billion $XRP can become available at the start of each month.
Ripple originally placed 55 billion $XRP into escrow in 2017 and said unused $XRP would be returned to escrow for future releases.
As of Aug. 31, about 32.28 billion $XRP remained locked in Ripple’s on-ledger escrow, according to an on-chain tracker that calculates the balance directly from active XRPL escrow objects.
After the September 1 unlock, that leaves approximately 31.28 billion $XRP in Ripple’s existing escrow balance.
That means roughly 31.28% of $XRP’s fixed 100 billion maximum supply would remain locked in Ripple’s escrow following the release.
It is important, however, that an escrow unlock does not mean Ripple has sold 1 billion $XRP. Ripple has historically re-escrowed the portion of each monthly release.
It is worth noting that the amount of tokens that actually enter the broader market can be substantially smaller than the headline 1 billion $XRP figure.
$XRP‘s current price performance
In the meantime, $XRP is showing signs of renewed bullish momentum. The cryptocurrency is trading at around $1.39 and gaining roughly 1.7% over the past 24 hours. $XRP has climbed approximately 30.8% over the past 30 days and 14.5% over the last 90 days. However, the token remains under pressure on a year-to-date basis.
More than $2.3 million worth of $XRP positions have been liquidated over the past 24 hours. Short liquidations account for roughly $1.5 million compared with about $793,000 in long liquidations.