Following its protocols, Ripple, the Fintech company behind XRP Ledger (XRP) released 1billion XRP on September 1, marking the beginning of its scheduled monthly token sale. An event that was highly anticipated in the Crypto community and carries much weight in the XRP market, of course, with notable effects.
What are the Unlock Details?
The most recent unlock was valued at approximately $570 million at current prices and was executed through multiple transactions:
- 500 million XRP in a single transaction from ‘Ripple (24)’.
- 200 million and 300 million XRP in two separate transactions from ‘Ripple (25)’.
This release is part of Ripple’s strategy to unlock tokens in circulation, which started in May 2024. However, there will be a partial release of more than 43 billion XRP held in escrows. This process will go on until December 2027.
An observation in the previous unlocks is that a new unlock often precedes a change in XRP’s price –usually, a drop. This latest release has drawn attention from investors and traders who want to know how the market will react.
A quick look at the unlock made in August shows that Ripple was on an interesting trajectory. After unlocking 1billion XRP on August 1, the company retained 200 million XRP in the treasury account & re-locked 800 million tokens for Q4, Nov and Dec-2027. However, Ripple procrastinated in its sale and only made a monthly sale of 200 million XRP on August 27.
XRP Price Performance
As of the time of writing, XRP was trading at $0.57, hence a 9.40% decrease year-to-date. Since the beginning of 2024, Ripple has sold over 2.02 billion XRP from its treasury account, amounting to approximately $1.15 billion (€1.04bn).
In the aftermath of these monthly unlocks, the price of XRP has been down in four of the eight months this year, with a rally only in February and July and exhibiting lateral movement in subsequent months.
What’s Next?
In the future, XRP investors should continue to monitor Ripple’s selling activity because of its significant holdings of XRP. Such large-scale token releases are also capable of causing volatility in the XRP prices. Also, marked demand in the market will guarantee a positive performance.
According to on-chain data, the daily active addresses for Ripple rose by nearly 17% on September 1. Despite the fall in the exchange supply, more XRP sales across addresses were engaging with exchange wallets. This trivial a bullish thesis for the altcoin.
The Crypto community is keen on how this latest unlock impacts the XRP market within the coming days and weeks. And again, investors should always outright conduct due diligence on any investment opportunity they wish to partake. Of course, this should be in line with the underlying risks surrounding the particular investment.
Image Source: Adobe Stock
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used for legal, tax, investment or financial advice.
