Ripple Unlocks 500M XRP and Relocks 400M, What’s Going On?

The latest XRP escrow update from Ripple has caught attention, revealing an intriguing shift. In a surprising move, the company unlocked 500 million XRP tokens, only to re-lock a substantial amount, defying conventional expectations. What’s behind this unusual pattern?

Ripple Unlocks 500M XRP, Locks 400M

As revealed by Whale Alert in an X post, Ripple has successfully executed its monthly XRP escrow release, unlocking a substantial number of tokens.

Reportedly, Ripple has unlocked 500 million XRP tokens, valued at $1.08 billion, which were then transferred to the company in two separate transactions: 300 million XRP and 200 million XRP. The 300 million XRP transfer is likely earmarked for various purposes, including on-demand liquidity (ODL) operations, exchange-traded products (ETPs), and strategic partnerships. Though a third escrow unlock of 300 million XRP was detected earlier today, it appears to have been unsuccessful.

Notably, this unlock follows Ripple’s regular monthly schedule for XRP escrow releases. The platform has consistently unlocked 1 billion XRP tokens from escrow on a monthly basis since late 2017. For instance, CoinGape reported in May that Ripple unlocked 1 billion XRP, worth over $2.2 billion, in three transactions: 500 million, 300 million, and 200 million XRP.

Shortly after the XRP escrow unlocked, Ripple relocked 400 million tokens, worth $869 million. Though this apparently seems to be an unusual pattern, it is possibly part of the platform’s monthly rebalancing.

Before relocking the 400 million XRP, the address received the tokens from two wallets: ‘rGKHDy’ sent 200 million XRP at 23:55 UTC. Three minutes later, wallet ‘rHGfmg’ transferred an additional 200 million XRP.

Ripple’s Escrow Pattern Shift

Earlier this year, Ripple showed deviations from its traditional monthly schedule of unlocking 1 billion XRP tokens from escrow. Instead, the company started performing internal relocations, creating new escrows from its own XRP holdings. This unusual pattern was observed in March and continued in subsequent months.

In a related development, Ripple partner SBI Holdings moved $703 million worth of XRP to an internal wallet, as reported by CoinGape. Experts anticipated a direct connection between this move and the XRP escrow release, especially considering the newly created internal account, which suggested a strategic reallocation or custodial structuring.

Despite the recent XRP escrow release and re-lock, the token price remains red, hitting a daily low of $2.1538. Though the token has now surged to $2.19, it is still experiencing a 24-hour decline of 0.6%.