A bit of mystery and A LOT of misinformation has been going around regarding Ripple’s escrow. This article will unravel any mystery surrounding Ripple’s escrow holdings.
What is an escrow?
Escrow is a feature of the XRP Ledger that allows you to send conditional XRP payments. These conditional payments, called escrows, set aside XRP and deliver it later when certain conditions are met. Conditions to successfully finish an escrow include time-based unlocks and crypto-conditions.
The XRP set aside in an escrow is locked up. No one can use or destroy the XRP until the escrow has been successfully finished.
Ripple’s initial escrow creation
In December 2017, Ripple created 55 escrows, 1 billion XRP each. Every month, one of these 1 billion escrows would expire, returning the 1 billion XRP to Ripple. Ripple could then use that XRP or return a certain amount to a new escrow.
Ripple’s escrow release history
This is a table showing the release of Ripple’s escrow every month and the amount returned to escrow. In 29 months, Ripple has released 29 billion XRP, of which, 23.4 billion went back into escrow. Ripple has re-escrowed 807 million XRP every month, on average so far.
| Date ending |
Amount Released (XRP) | Amount Returned to escrow | Cumulative XRP in escrow |
| Jan 18 | 1,000,000,000 | 0 | 54,000,000,000 |
| Feb 18 | 1,000,000,000 | 900,000,000 | 53,900,000,000 |
| Mar 18 | 1,000,000,000 | 900,000,000 | 53,800,000,000 |
| Apr 18 | 1,000,000,000 | 900,000,000 | 53,700,000,000 |
| May 18 | 1,000,000,000 | 900,000,000 | 53,600,000,000 |
| Jun 18 | 1,000,000,000 | 900,000,000 | 53,500,000,000 |
| Jul 18 | 1,000,000,000 | 900,000,000 | 53,400,000,000 |
| Aug 18 | 1,000,000,000 | 900,000,000 | 53,300,000,000 |
| Sep 18 | 1,000,000,000 | 800,000,000 | 53,100,000,000 |
| Oct 18 | 1,000,000,000 | 800,000,000 | 52,900,000,000 |
| Nov 18 | 1,000,000,000 | 800,000,000 | 52,700,000,000 |
| Dec 18 | 1,000,000,000 | 800,000,000 | 52,500,000,000 |
| Jan 19 | 1,000,000,000 | 800,000,000 | 52,300,000,000 |
| Feb 19 | 1,000,000,000 | 800,000,000 | 52,100,000,000 |
| Mar 19 | 1,000,000,000 | 700,000,000 | 51,800,000,000 |
| Apr 19 | 1,000,000,000 | 700,000,000 | 51,500,000,000 |
| May 19 | 1,000,000,000 | 700,000,000 | 51,200,000,000 |
| Jun 19 | 1,000,000,000 | 700,000,000 | 50,900,000,000 |
| Jul 19 | 1,000,000,000 | 700,000,000 | 50,600,000,000 |
| Aug 19 | 1,000,000,000 | 800,000,000 | 50,400,000,000 |
| Sep 19 | 1,000,000,000 | 800,000,000 | 50,200,000,000 |
| Oct 19 | 1,000,000,000 | 800,000,000 | 50,000,000,000 |
| Nov 19 | 1,000,000,000 | 900,000,000 | 49,900,000,000 |
| Dec 19 | 1,000,000,000 | 1,000,000,000 | 49,900,000,000 |
| Jan 20 | 1,000,000,000 | 900,000,000 | 49,800,000,000 |
| Feb 20 | 1,000,000,000 | 900,000,000 | 49,700,000,000 |
| Mar 20 | 1,000,000,000 | 900,000,000 | 49,600,000,000 |
| Apr 20 | 1,000,000,000 | 900,000,000 | 49,500,000,000 |
| May 20 | 1,000,000,000 | 900,000,000 | 49,400,000,000 |
| 29,000,000,000 | 23,400,000,000 |
When Ripple first escrowed the 55 billion XRP, it used 11 different wallets, each holding 5 billion XRP in escrows. At the time of writing, 5 of the initial wallets have 0 XRP escrowed in them, while 6 new wallets have been created.
| Escrow wallets | Amount of XRP in escrow |
| r9NpyVfLfUG8hatuCCHKzosyDtKnBdsEN3 | 0 |
| r9UUEXn3cx2seufBkDa8F86usfjWM6HiYp | 0 |
| rB3WNZc45gxzW31zxfXdkx8HusAhoqscPn | 0 |
| rDdXiA3M4mYTQ4cFpWkVXfc2UaAXCFWeCK | 0 |
| rKDvgGUsNPZxsgmoemfrgXPS2Not4co2op | 0 |
| rN8pqRwLYuuvY7pUHurybPC8P6rLqVsu6o | 3,000,000,000 |
| rKwJaGmB5Hz24Qs2iyCaTdUuL1WsEXUWy5 | 3,000,000,000 |
| rU9qmGM4Y6WWDhiNzkwVKBwwatcoE7YL1T | 5,000,000,000 |
| rNASJdZjY9dToHnNURi3HAUku3duPwbtD1 | 5,000,000,000 |
| rfWPPQBYqYmoFMdVnjzXCagJbz5uajSBXL | 5,000,000,000 |
| rh2EsAe2xVE71ZBjx7oEL2zpD4zmSs3sY9 | 5,000,000,000 |
| rhEwsCWDCVxDiKxGJAKM6VuXC8EFtJP5gQ | 5,000,000,000 |
| rncKvRcdDq9hVJpdLdTcKoxsS3NSkXsvfM | 5,000,000,000 |
| rp6aTJmW3nq1aKt3Jmuz4DPRxksT5PBjpH | 5,000,000,000 |
| rsjFB8mPWqiZgPUaVh8XYqdfa59PE2d5LG | 5,000,000,000 |
| rw2hzLZgiQ9q62KCuaTWuFHWfiX7JWg3wY | 1,900,000,000 |
| rDqGA2GfveHypDguQ1KXrJzYymFZmKxEsF | 1,500,000,000 |
| 49,400,000,000 |
Besides spreading its escrow to different wallets, each holding a maximum of 5 billion XRP, Ripple also makes sure that every month, a maximum of 1 billion XRP is in escrow. This applies to any new escrows Ripple creates.
Currently, the last escrow ends in July 2024. Starting from June 2020, up until June 2024, in each month a total of 1 billion XRP in escrow will end. In July 2024, currently, there are 400 million XRP escrowed. Next month when Ripple creates new escrows, it will escrow 600 million XRP ending in the month of July 2024 and the rest for August 2024. This will go on for some time now.
You can view all the escrows on our escrow page.
Ripple’s XRP sales
Ripple has been very transparent as far as its sales are concerned. Every quarter it publishes a quarterly report that shows exactly how much XRP Ripple sold during that timeframe. As you can see in the graph below, Ripple’s sales (in USD) were the most from Q3 2018 to Q2 2019.
Toward the end of Q2 2019, Ripple announced that it would start using a different approach to XRP volume reporting and that it would take a more conservative approach to XRP sales. Indeed, in the last three quarters, Ripple’s sales appear to be significantly lower.
Conclusion
Whenever you see a news outlet claiming that Ripple is about to dump 1 billion XRP, you should know that that is never the case. Ripple has maintained a very conservative approach with maximum transparency.
As mentioned in the Q4 2019 report, Ripple continues to focus solely on its over-the-counter (OTC) sales with a few strategic partners, who are building XRP utility and liquidity in strategic regions including EMEA and Asia.
Ripple is determined to get more RippleNet members on On-Demand Liquidity and XRP, and it is taking all the necessary steps to achieve that.
The post Ripple escrow: Unraveling the mystery appeared first on XRPArcade.
