Is XRP's Price Being Suppressed Beyond the SEC Lawsuit?

A recent post on social media has stirred up fresh debate in the crypto community, raising the question: Is XRP’s price being suppressed beyond the SEC lawsuit?

A recent post on X, formerly Twitter, has sparked debate in the crypto community with claims that XRP’s price is being suppressed beyond the SEC lawsuit. The post, which quickly went viral, drew criticism for alleged fear-mongering while also sparking discussion on market manipulation.

The post, written by an X user named Dave, argued that several factors point towards XRP’s price being manipulated. These include Ripple’s monthly sales from escrow, unusual network patterns, and historical price movements — particularly during XRP’s famous 2017 rally.

The post also cited a 2023 study published in the Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Health, and Care, which found a negative connection between XRP’s transaction network activity and its price performance over the period of 2014 to 2022.

However, attorney and XRP supporter Bill Morgan has cleared up some of the claims made in the post.

Morgan explained that the post claims that Ripple still owns 43% of XRP’s total supply, which isn’t true. According to CoinMarketCap data, around 58.5% of XRP is in circulation, excluding what Ripple holds in escrow.

He also noted that Ripple’s monthly sales from escrow make up just a small fraction of the total market volume and have no impact on price. In fact, evidence presented in the SEC lawsuit revealed that Ripple took measures to support XRP’s price, such as locking up large amounts of tokens in escrow to reduce market pressure.

Morgan further pointed out that the SEC spent over 18 months investigating Ripple before filing the lawsuit, and if any proof of price manipulation existed, it would have been used in court. This makes the suppression claims hard to believe.

He added that XRP’s price has historically followed the crypto market, moving in line with Bitcoin and Ethereum. This trend has remained consistent for the past four years, and little has changed to challenge that pattern.