Former Ripple Exec Says Ripple Could Burn its XRP Holdings, Here’s Why

The Ripple Labs and XRP community have started debating more crucial events that may succeed the court ruling on the legal battle between the payments company and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The conversation that ensued on crypto Twitter recently was focused on what will happen to the XRP currencies that are being held in escrow by Ripple Labs. With the company holding these assets in trust for use to balance the market, they control a significant supply of the token which largely gives the firm a major stake in the token, hence solidifying the common enterprise argument of the market regulator.

With many ideas as to what the Judge Torres ruling might entail, Matt Hamilton, a former Ripple executive has weighed in on the conversation. According to him, the XRP held in escrow are set to be sent to a particular address and the company could disable the master key to this designated wallet. 

Should this be done, the funds will be inaccessible to anyone even if the funds are released to the escrow account. By the usual modalities of effecting crypto burn, this is what may eventually play out. Summarizing his point in the argument, Hamilton said;

“Ripple could right now publicly and probably render their entire future escrow funds inaccessible to even themselves. To all intents and purposes “burn them.”

Future of the Ripple and XRP Association

The legal battle between Ripple and the SEC has caused a lot of imbalance in the potential business alignment for the company who uses XRP as the primary currency in its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service. 

Should the ruling impact its ability to control the portion of the XRP coins as is being speculated, it implies the company will have to be sourcing the token in the open market, a move that may prove slightly more costly overall. 

The alternatives might be to adopt another digital currency entirely for its cross-border payment offerings, a move that will negate its core proposition that it built its RippleNet platform riding on the cheaper and faster transactions of the XRP coin. Once again, the significance of the lawsuit has been highlighted by the debate and expectations remain high on how this will end even with broad projections that Ripple stand a better winning chance.