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The Ripple CTO David Schwartz has come up to debunk claims that Ripple sold 237 million XRP last December, sharing XRP, XLM, and ADA charts to dispel the circulating XRP price suppression theories.
Schwartz’s latest remarks came as a reply to the official X account of The Good Morning Crypto Podcast. Citing data provided by Mr. Huber, an on-chain sleuth, the podcast’s X account claimed that Ripple sold 237 million XRP in December 2023.
Ripple Sold 3x More XRP in Dec 2023?
According to the disclosure, this net sales figure represents three times the amount that the firm typically sells every month.
Note that Ripple releases 1 billion XRP from escrow each month but relocks 800 million tokens, retaining 200 million for sales.
However, despite on-chain data confirming Ripple’s movements of these funds, tracking the actual amount they sell each month can be quite challenging. This is due to the ambiguity that comes with blockchain transactions.
Mr. Huber claims to be able to accurately detect these sales, noting that he gets his information from Ripple’s API data.
The latest disclosure claims Ripple’s net sales were 48.1 million XRP on Dec. 10, 2023, 59.4 million on Dec. 17, 60.1 million on Dec. 24, and 68.8 million on Jan. 7, 2024.
Calling attention to Mr. Huber’s commentary on the purported data, The Good Morning Crypto X account noted that the market could see Ripple buy back some XRP soon. The post claimed it would be concerning if Ripple did not buy back more XRP over eight to ten weeks.
The account then launched a poll, seeking the opinion of its audience regarding the theory that Ripple’s sales are contributing to XRP’s price suppression. Out of 1,964 votes, 68% of the respondents believe the sales are suppressing XRP’s price.
Ripple CTO Debunks Claims
Ripple CTO came up to debunk the claims that the firm’s net XRP sales were three times more in December 2023. He questioned the source of the data suggesting this metric, noting that Ripple would release its next XRP market report soon.
This is inaccurate.
Not sure where you are pulling this “3X” data from, but the next XRP Markets Report (coming out in a few weeks) will again include Ripple’s aggregate holdings of XRP over the quarter. You’ll see the changes in our holdings from the beginning to the end of the…
— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) January 10, 2024
This report would provide transparency on their initial and final holdings for Q4 2023. Schwartz said the community would not witness any surprises for the previous quarter’s reports, as the rate of sales would be identical to what they observed in past quarters.
A concerned XRP community member responded to Schwartz’s comments, lamenting XRP’s low price growth.
According to this individual, if the Ripple CTO’s claims are true and Ripple is not dumping more XRP, then someone else is doing the selloffs, as the crypto asset’s price is “awful.”
XRP Price Suppression Theories
This reply stems from the theory that XRP is facing a price suppression campaign, leading to its underperformance.
Schwartz dispelled this theory, sharing two charts that compare XRP’s price movements with Stellar’s (XLM) and Cardano’s (ADA) price actions over the past month.
First chart is both XRP and XLM over the past month. Second chart is both XRP and Cardano over the past month. pic.twitter.com/ek769C2Agf
— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) January 10, 2024
The charts show that XRP has recorded similar price upswings and slumps with XLM and ADA since last December.
All three assets witnessed a price drop on Jan. 3 amid the market-wide collapse. XRP dropped 6.69% that day, while XLM fell 6.66% and ADA slumped 7.95%.
However, when it comes to monthly performances, ADA shines, with a 58% increase last month. XRP only rose 1.96% within the same timeframe. On the other hand, XLM recorded a 9% price uptick. All three assets have made similar moves this month.