Ripple Labs Makes Major Move, Unlocks Second Batch of 500 Million XRP From Escrow

American payment protocol company, Ripple Labs has made a major move today as it unlocks a heft 500 million XRP tokens from its escrow. The play has sparked speculations across the crypto community with members wondering why such a huge amount was withdrawn.

The transfer comes amid its ongoing court battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about whether the native token XRP should be classified as a security. The SEC has accused Ripple of selling XRP to investors without registering it as securities.

The unlocking of the massive amount of tokens from escrow coincides with the XRP price downtrend today April 12 raising concerns among investors and members of the crypto community.

Ripple shifts 500 million XRP between wallets

In a significant update, Ripple Labs, the issuer of the XRP token, has unlocked a huge amount of the cryptocurrency from its escrow wallet. According to reports from WhaleAlert, a large blockchain transaction tracker, the company release was done in two consecutive transactions. Per the update, the first transaction released 200 million XRP valued at $122,636,247 ($122.6 million), and the second one carried 300 million XRP tokens worth $183.9 million.

Moreover, it is important to note that the move aligns with Ripple’s monthly strategy of releasing 1 billion XRP tokens into the market to maintain liquidity and ease its use as a cross-border payment system. Nevertheless, community members have reacted, by dropping their comments on social media. They ask why the blockchain firm has released such an amount when it is not yet the beginning of May. Notably, another user claimed that the amount is to pay the lawyer fees in their ongoing case with the SEC.

To guarantee that XRP is available for a variety of use cases, Ripple is steadfast in its commitment to its strategy of frequent escrow releases, even in the face of short-term price swings. This strategy is in line with Ripple’s long-term goal of making XRP a dependable asset for smooth international trade.

Meanwhile, at the beginning of April Ripple had already unlocked 500 million XRP tokens, adding to the recent one to complete its 1 billion release plan. Additionally, to preserve price movements, Ripple has been observed to lock a sizeable chunk of the 1 billion issued XRP following the unlocking.

XRP price today

According to data from CoinMarketCap, the price of XRP today is $0.6108 representing a 1.01% drop in the last 24 hours. What is more, XRP’s 24-hour trading volume has dropped by a massive 20% within the recorded time to $1.2 billion. XRP maintains its position as the sixth-largest cryptocurrency with a live market cap of $33.6 billion. In hindsight, XRP has gained 4.82% in the last week and dipped by 11% over the last month.