Ripple Labs has once again made a massive escrow transaction, locking 700 million XRP valued at over $1.5 billion.
Blockchain payment firm Ripple Labs Inc has locked 700 million XRP XRP $2.16 24h volatility: 3.0% Market cap: $127.05 B Vol. 24h: $3.09 B in escrow as part of its monthly rebalancing campaign. According to insights from Whale Alert, the action was completed in three distinct transactions of 500 million, 30 million, and 170 million XRP, respectively. This activity has mildly impacted the price of XRP.
Ripple Escrow Transfers Become Standard Practice
Ripple started by transferring 1 billion XRP in its monthly rebalancing exercise. It then sent 700 million of the coins to escrow, with no May 2025 escrow release yet. The entire locked XRP is worth approximately $1.5 billion.
Notably, these transfers have become integral to Ripple’s standard procedures in the last couple of months.
🔒 🔒 🔒 🔒 🔒 🔒 🔒 🔒 🔒 🔒 500,000,000 #XRP (1,108,194,897 USD) locked in escrow at #Ripplehttps://t.co/YsOA2kM6Cp
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) May 1, 2025
Ripple releases 1 billion XRP monthly, which is channeled into institutional liquidity funds, operational expenses, and general market support. On the other hand, the escrow program is structured to regulate and manage the availability of XRP in the market. In other words, it is conducted to control the coin’s circulating supply and avoid excessive market fluctuations.
A similar pattern was seen a month ago when Ripple made a major escrow move with over 700 million XRP locked in. This was the first of such activity since Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s CEO, announced the resolution of its five-year-long lawsuit with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Sellers swamped XRP at the $2.2 price level. To a significant extent, the broader market recovery that has seen Bitcoin BTC $104 862 24h volatility: 1.6% Market cap: $2.09 T Vol. 24h: $34.35 B recover above $96,000 was insufficient to pull XRP out of the bearish setup. With the news about the 700 million coins locked in escrow, XRP changed hands at $2.21.
While this is a mild fall from the highest price level in 24 hours, XRP maintains a 0.15% surge within the same period. Scaling back on XRP sales could ease selling pressure and potentially create a more favorable pricing environment for the coin.
In the meantime, investors and analysts are watching Ripple’s strategies closely to gauge the potential impact of its standard procedure on future price movements.
Other potential catalysts could trigger the price of XRP to new levels in the coming weeks. One such catalyst is the increasing speculation of a spot XRP ETF approval in the US. The possibility of having this fund in the region has helped sustain the coin’s positive sentiment.
Ripple is Interested in Acquiring Companies, Not an IPO
Meanwhile, Ripple has started pursuing acquisitions of complementary blockchain infrastructure companies.
In March 2025, Garlinghouse shared plans for Ripple’s IPO this year and the anticipated interest in the market for XRP ETF. More recently, the Ripple boss clarified that the company’s focus is not on an IPO but on these acquisitions that will lead to the expansion of its operations.
On this basis, it moved on to Circle, offering the stablecoin issuer $5 billion in a buy-out bid. Circle turned down the offer because it does not fully reflect its worth. It remains uncertain whether Ripple Labs will present a counter offer.
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