Ripple completed a significant XRP release on September 1, unlocking 1 billion XRP through three scheduled transactions. According to blockchain monitoring account Whale Alert, the releases comprised 500 million, 400 million, and 100 million XRP from Ripple-controlled escrow accounts. The XRP became available to Ripple after underlying time locks expired, though this does not prove any market sale occurred. As of August 31, roughly 32.28 billion XRP remained locked in Ripple's on-ledger escrow, according to an on-chain tracker calculating the balance directly from active XRPL escrow objects. After this latest unlock, the figure drops to approximately 31.14 billion XRP, representing about 31.28% of XRP's original 100 billion supply.
The September release reduced Ripple's active on-ledger escrow balance to approximately 31.28 billion XRP, representing about 31.28% of XRP's original 100 billion supply. As reported by an independent tracker querying validated XRP Ledger data, the balance decreased from approximately 32.28 billion XRP before the three September transactions. The remaining balance does not include Ripple's operational wallets containing previously released XRP, which are separate from tokens still restricted by active time-based escrow contracts. Ripple originally placed 55 billion XRP into escrow in December 2017, establishing a programmed monthly release schedule allowing up to 1 billion XRP to become available each month.
Ripple's historical pattern shows the company regularly returns between 600 million and 800 million XRP after monthly unlocks, though no independently verified re-escrow total for September's release was available when reporting. An unlock does not mean Ripple actually sold 1 billion XRP, as the company has historically re-escrowed a large portion of each monthly release, meaning tokens reaching the broader market tend to be far smaller than the headline figure suggests. The escrow restrictions operate through the XRP Ledger rather than informal company commitments, with EscrowFinish transactions delivering locked XRP to designated accounts once release conditions are satisfied.
XRP currently trades near $1.36, falling 0.5% over the past 24 hours, though the token has fallen about 8.20% over the past week after nearly touching $1.70 in August. The token has still climbed roughly 30.8% over the past 30 days and 14.5% over the last 90 days, though it remains under pressure on a year-to-date basis. Leveraged positions felt significant pain during recent volatility, with more than $3.32 million worth of XRP positions liquidated over the past 24 hours, according to Coinglass data. Short liquidations accounted for roughly $1.19 million against about $2.13 million in long liquidations, suggesting bearish traders bore the brunt of recent volatility.
