Ripple Cannot Influence XRP Price With Escrow Holdings: Ex-Ripple Director

Ripple Cannot Influence XRP Price With Escrow Holdings: Ex-Ripple Director

Time Stamp: July 17, 2023 6:42 AM
Source Node: 2767741

Matt Hamilton debunks claims that Ripple’s XRP holdings can influence the asset’s price, stressing that XRP’s price action follows Bitcoin (BTC) and the overall crypto market.

Ripple’s voluminous XRP tokens held in several escrow wallets have remained a hot topic among market participants. This subject recently resurfaced following a mild fuss triggered by a crypto enthusiast who said, “XRP is centralized.” 

While clarifying that the inaccurate statement was a typographical error, Mitch questioned Ripple’s promotion of decentralization, citing that the company holds an enormous portion of the XRP supply. Notably, as of July 2023, 41 billion XRP tokens remain in Ripple’s escrow wallets. 

The pseudonymous crypto-literate further implied that Ripple could influence or impact XRP’s price as the company controls the majority of XRP tokens.

Ex-Ripple Director Responds

Responding to the assertion that Ripple could manipulate XRP’s price with their vast holdings, Matt Hamilton, a former Director of Developer Relations at Ripple, conceded that Ripple is the single largest holder of XRP. 

Further, he clarified that these tokens are not all in circulation but are held in escrow contracts and released monthly in batches. 

Notably, Ripple often sells a portion of its unlocked XRP tokens to meet the company’s ODL demands and other undisclosed purposes, channeling the remainder to new escrow wallets in subsequent days. As reported by The Crypto Basic, Ripple unlocked 1 billion XRP on July 1, worth about $453M at transaction time. 

However, the ex-developer at Ripple Labs noted that Ripple’s holding could not influence the XRP price, given the vast disparity between XRP’s daily sales volume of about 4B and Ripple’s holding. 

According to Hamilton, XRP’s price is mainly influenced by the prevailing market conditions and Bitcoin (BTC) price actions. To further clear Mitch’s doubts, Hamilton stated that the XRP community could always vote to burn Ripple’s holding if the company acted against the community’s interests regarding price influencing. 

This conversation comes shortly after Ripple scored a partial victory against the U.S. SEC in their longstanding legal tussle. While a pro-XRP lawyer recently noted that both parties would appeal the case, the judge made it clear that XRP is not a security.

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Disclaimer: This content is informational and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author’s personal opinions and do not reflect The Crypto Basic’s opinion. Readers are encouraged to do thorough research before making any investment decisions. The Crypto Basic is not responsible for any financial losses.

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