Ripple releases 1 billion XRP tokens from an escrow system within the XRP Ledger on the first day of every month. On October 1 (Sunday), this will happen once again in three separate transactions worth 100,000,000, 400,000,000, and 500,000,000 XRP.
Of the total 53.31 billion XRP in circulation now, 1.87 billion will be released in October 2023. The remaining 46.69 billion XRP tokens are owned by Ripple and are locked in escrow until February 2027.
On the final minutes of September 30, two wallet addresses believed to be under Ripple’s control will finalize three escrows:
“Ripple (22)” to unlock 500,000,000 XRP locked on July 1, 2019; transaction ID: “D0C3E…7568F”.
“Ripple (23)” to unlock 100,000,000 XRP locked on July 1, 2019; transaction ID: “532CD…1E4D2”.
“Ripple (23)” to unlock 400,000,000 XRP locked on August 1, 2019; transaction ID: “574D0…25F89”.
There are still 5 billion XRP tokens held at those two locations, pending the conclusion of monthly escrows that will take place between now and February 29, 2024.
Why This Escrow Was Developed by Ripple
When XRP was first formed in 2012, the XRP ledger set the maximum number of XRP that could ever exist at 100 billion. Twenty billion XRP was initially given out to the developers and founding members of the company.
The remaining 80 billion XRP were held in reserve by Ripple, and the company had vowed to distribute them gradually rather than all at once. To better regulate and schedule the distribution of XRP, Ripple introduced a new mechanism in 2017.
Escrows are used in this system; they are a form of smart contract that hold XRP in escrow until certain conditions are met. Ripple’s requirement was to distribute 55 billion XRP over the course of 55 months, with one billion XRP being distributed on the first day of each month.
Ripple did not spend or sell all of the one billion XRP that was released per month. Instead, it seems that Ripple is putting the leftover tokens into fresh escrow each month. This pushed back the original timetable of 55 months for all XRP to be distributed.