XRP Institutional Appetite Defies Short-Term Price Volatility
Ripple's monthly ritual of unlocking and re-locking XRP from its escrow contract has played out again, with 700 million tokens worth approximately $952 million returned to custody. This leaves around 31.28 billion tokens still held in escrow accounts.
Historically, Ripple has re-locked between 600 million and 800 million of the released supply, meaning only 200 million to 400 million tokens enter free circulation each month. Crypto lawyer Bill Morgan argues that this mechanism debunks the narrative that Ripple is dumping tokens on the market.
The XRP price has responded mutedly, trading at $1.33, down 3.6% on the day and 7.2% over the past week. Despite a sharp rally that still leaves the token up 23% on a monthly basis, it remains 58% below its September high of $3.18.
However, institutional demand tells a different story. US spot XRP ETFs recorded net inflows of $110.49 million in the week through August 28, a record for the year and a 177% jump from the prior week.