Ripple has taken an unprecedented step by unlocking 500 million XRP from its escrow wallets in the middle of April, which has piqued the interest of market participants. Normally, the blockchain payments firm unlocks 1 billion XRP from escrow on the first day of each month, a pattern it has followed since 2017 to ensure a systematic release of XRP tokens.
However, the recent escrow release deviated from this pattern. It took place on April 12, eleven days later than expected, and consisted of two separate transactions totaling 500 million XRP. Whale-tracking platform Whale Alert brought attention to this unusual escrow transaction in two disclosures on X.
The first transaction occurred at 5:05 AM and involved the release of 200 million XRP. At the time of the transaction, the assets were valued at $122.6 million. Interestingly, the recipient wallet, which belonged to Ripple, had been inactive since March 2021 before the recent transaction.
Only four minutes later, the second transaction took place, releasing an additional 300 million XRP valued at $183.89 million. This brought the total amount released to 500 million XRP, with both transactions directed to the same address. As of press time, Ripple has not moved the tokens from this address.
Upon examining the transactions, it becomes clear that these particular escrow releases were scheduled to take place after midnight on April 1. Ripple has automated these escrow unlocks to occur on the first day of each month, distributing 1 billion XRP tokens across various addresses. However, some of these scheduled releases encounter issues with the intended recipient address or face delays. In this case, the system executed the two transactions 11 days later than scheduled.
Earlier this month, The Crypto Basic reported that Ripple had unlocked only 500 million XRP from escrow on April 1, leaving the remaining 500 million XRP to be released at a later date. Thus, the recent unlocks completed the 1 billion quota. While some members of the XRP community speculated that these were early releases for May, they were actually delayed releases for April.
It is worth noting that after releasing the initial 500 million XRP from escrow, Ripple locked back 800 million tokens on April 1. This practice of locking back 800 million XRP each month has been ongoing even before the scheduled 1 billion tokens are fully released. These delays and failures have been consistent throughout this year. In March, the network only released 500 million XRP, but Ripple locked back 800 million tokens.
In February, the network unlocked 600 million XRP at the beginning of the month and an additional 400 million tokens on the 25th. However, before receiving the 400 million XRP, the company locked back 600 million XRP. In January, Ripple followed its normal routine unlock schedule, without any delays or anomalies.
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