Ripple locks 700 million XRP back in escrow after monthly release

What happened

Ripple locked 700 million XRP back into escrow on October 1, hours after it unlocked 1 billion XRP from the same wallet. The company follows a monthly routine of releasing and relocking a fixed amount of XRP.

The returned tokens moved in two transactions. One carried 400 million XRP and the other 300 million XRP, according to XRPSCAN data cited by Finbold.

The escrow reshuffling is believed to be aimed at maintaining predictable supply flows, though debates about its main purpose continue despite public clarifications from Ripple executives.

Why it matters

The escrow schedule is well known to the market, and similar amounts have been re-escrowed virtually every month this year. That familiarity limits the surprise value of each release.

XRP showed little price reaction. One report noted a decline of around 2.5% over the last day, while another attributed a 4% daily uptick to broader industry moves, including a 3% gain in BTC.

Supply remains concentrated. Ripple commands 39.77% of the supply, far more than Binance at 2.74% and Coinbase at 5.83%, per XRPSCAN.

What the data shows

XRP's circulating supply has reached approximately 68.42 billion, while 31.54 billion XRP, or 31.6% of total supply, remains in escrow, per XRPSCAN.

The return was split into two transfers, one of 400 million XRP and another of 300 million XRP.

What is still unclear

• The two reports put different dollar values on the same 700 million XRP return: over $1.4 billion in one and more than $1.05 billion in the other.
• It is not clear how the remaining 2026 escrow releases will affect XRP. One view holds that XRP could trade 20% higher by the time Ripple completes them.

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