Ripple just unlocked over $1.3 billion XRP
Ripple released 1 billion XRP from escrow on September 1, 2026, through three transactions of 100 million, 400 million, and 500 million XRP. At XRP’s price of about $1.38, the unlocked tokens were worth roughly $1.38 billion. The release reduced Ripple’s escrow holdings from about 32.28 billion XRP to 31.28 billion XRP. The monthly unlock is part of a program introduced in December 2017, when Ripple placed 55 billion XRP into time-based escrow contracts on the XRP Ledger. The protocol automatically releases up to 1 billion XRP on the first day of each month, making the tokens available to Ripple-controlled accounts without any additional action from the company. Once unlocked, the tokens can be used for operational needs, institutional sales, and On-Demand Liquidity corridors. Historically, Ripple has re-locked most of each monthly release, typically between 600 million and 800 million XRP, into new escrow contracts, extending the o...