Ripple Locks 700M XRP Tokens in Escrow As Part of Its Long-Standing Program

According to data provided by Whale Alert, 700 million XRP tokens has been locked by Ripple in an escrow.

Ripple, the blockchain payments technology company, has reportedly locked up 700 million XRP tokens in an escrow account, according to data from blockchain analytics firm Whale Alert.

As part of its long-standing escrow program, Ripple typically releases 1 billion XRP on a monthly basis to ensure that the supply of the leading altcoin remains predictable. The released XRP tokens are used for institutional sales, operational expenses, and other purposes.

However, last month, the company went against the usual schedule and returned 700 million XRP to escrow without the standard 1 billion token release. The escrows with 700 million tokens were created from surplus XRP in the company's accounts.

"Ripple used some of its current XRP holdings to create escrows. As you can see in this post, Ripple holds a few billion XRP not in escrow," Cyprus-based XRP analyst Leonidas Hadjiloizou stated in a recent post.

As U.Today reported, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse did not rule out that the company might reduce its XRP sales in the future, which could potentially lessen the pressure on the price of the token.

Despite selling billions of dollars worth of XRP annually, Ripple continues to own more than 40% of the total supply of the XRP token.

Last month, Ripple withdrew its cross-appeal against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after the agency agreed to ask the court to drop the injunction that has blocked the company from selling XRP tokens to institutional clients. The injunction was part of Judge Analisa Torres's final ruling, which was unveiled last August.