Ripple, a financial technology company based in the United States, has revealed that it currently holds 44.9 billion XRP, with 40 billion of those tokens being held in escrow. In the first quarter of 2024, Ripple sold over 841 million XRP tokens, according to its latest XRP market quarterly report. The report also highlighted various developments related to XRP and the XRP Ledger during this period, including an increase in transactions, a decrease in transaction costs, and the launch of XLS-30 for AMM functionality.
At the end of 2023, Ripple held 45.78 billion XRP, but this number decreased to 44.94 billion by the end of the first quarter of 2024. This represents 44.94% of XRP’s maximum supply, marking the first time that Ripple’s holdings have fallen below the 45% threshold. The sale of 841.5 million XRP in the first quarter of the year resulted in a total value of $440.6 million, based on the current unit price of $0.5236. However, this figure represents a 16% decrease in Ripple’s XRP sales compared to the previous quarter, which recorded sales of 1.006 billion XRP.
Out of the current balance of 44.94 billion XRP, 40.1 billion tokens are locked in 12 escrow wallets. These assets are subject to monthly escrow releases. However, recent data from XRPL explorer XRPScan shows that this number has dropped to 39.7 billion XRP at the time of reporting, as Ripple sold 400 million XRP in April and May.
Ripple’s report also reveals that the company holds 4.84 billion XRP as a spendable balance out of the total holdings of 44.94 billion as of March 31. This indicates a decrease of 237 million XRP in the company’s spendable balance during the last quarter.
There have been concerns among some market participants about Ripple’s continuous XRP sales, as they believe that these sales contribute to the underperformance of XRP. However, Ripple’s CTO, David Schwartz, has debunked these claims, and others have echoed his sentiments, pointing out that XRP’s inflation rate is lower than that of other assets like Solana, which have performed well.
In response to community inquiries, Schwartz emphasized that Ripple has no choice but to continuously decrease its XRP holdings. He explained that the company needs to significantly reduce the amount of XRP it holds and mentioned that options such as burning the tokens would not have a positive impact on the price, citing the example of Stellar.
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