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Billions in XRP on the Move: Mysterious Transfers Spark Speculation

Published 7 hours ago2 minute read
David Isong
David Isong
Billions in XRP on the Move: Mysterious Transfers Spark Speculation

The first day of September marked Ripple's routine escrow transactions, with significant movements of XRP being tracked by Whale Alert. Initially, 1 billion XRP was unlocked: 500,000,000 XRP (equivalent to $1,380,340,882), 300,000,000 XRP ($830,158,847), and 200,000,000 XRP ($553,278,406) were released and sent to a Ripple wallet. Following this initial release, Ripple returned a substantial portion to escrow, specifically 700,000,000 XRP, comprising 400,000,000 XRP ($1,104,530,305) and 300,000,000 XRP ($828,023,264). This process resulted in a net release of 300,000,000 XRP for September, consistent with Ripple's established pattern of unlocking 1 billion, distributing a portion, and relocking the remainder.

Ripple’s escrow system was implemented years ago to enhance the predictability of XRP's circulating supply. Each month, a fresh tranche of 1 billion XRP is released from escrow. These tokens are made available for various uses within Ripple’s ecosystem or to meet institutional demand. Any unused tokens are then locked back into escrow for future cycles. This rolling mechanism currently manages approximately 35.6 billion XRP held in escrow. While net supply increases can potentially influence price action, larger relocks are intended to mitigate such pressure. The September balance demonstrated a moderate release, with 300 million XRP freed up (valued at over $830 million), while the majority was returned to long-term hold.

Beyond the scheduled escrow movements, Whale Alert, a prominent blockchain sleuth, also detected other significant XRP transfers initiated by Ripple. Data from XRPscan detailed a massive transaction where Ripple transferred 250,000,000 XRP (valued at $703,901,147) to an anonymous wallet, later identified as a Ripple-affiliated wallet, Ripple50. This transfer was likely intended to cover the company's operational costs, contribute to the Ripple Payments network, support OTPs, and facilitate various investments. This 250 million XRP is believed to have originated from one of the earlier 1 billion XRP lumps unlocked from escrow.

Furthermore, Whale Alert also tracked a 50,000,000 XRP transfer that was initially marked as moving between anonymous wallets. However, analytics from @XRPwallets confirmed that these funds were sent from Ripple to a wallet affiliated with its co-founder and former CEO, Chris Larsen. From this 50 million XRP, 10 million XRP was subsequently sent to Binance 11. Concurrently with the 250 million XRP transfer, another large transaction of 49,999,989 XRP ($140,841,434) was reported by Whale Alert as moving

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