finbold.com
Ripple has just initiated its latest round of token unlocks from escrow, where the company is scheduled to release 1 billion tokens in April.
As of April 1, the blockchain firm’s distribution strategy recorded the release of the first 500 million $XRP, which has already been executed, according to on-chain data retrieved by Finbold from XRPScan.
The month’s first tranche of $XRP was moved from an escrow wallet to a Ripple-controlled wallet in a transaction executed at 00:00 UTC. The wallet in question has already scheduled 11 future escrow releases.
Ripple’s escrow system was established to manage the controlled release of its $XRP holdings. At the time, Ripple locked 55 billion $XRP into escrow, with 1 billion $XRP scheduled to be released monthly.
These releases typically occur in phases throughout the month. After each unlock, Ripple often reallocates a portion of the $XRP for operational purposes, such as supporting ecosystem development, partnerships, or market liquidity, while returning the remainder to escrow for future releases.
For instance, on February 1, 2025, another 1 billion $XRP unlock occurred from the Ripple (26) and Ripple (27) wallets. Of this amount, 400 million $XRP and 100 million $XRP were released from Ripple (26), while 500 million $XRP came from Ripple (27). This release was valued at approximately $3.10 billion.
On March 3, 2025, Ripple executed another 1 billion $XRP unlock in three transactions.
The remaining 500 million $XRP from this month’s 1 billion unlock is expected to be released in the coming days or weeks, following Ripple’s typical phased approach.
$XRP price analysis
Regarding $XRP price movement, the unlocks can potentially introduce volatility for the token.
However, at the moment, $XRP does not seem to be significantly affected by the releases, as its price is moving in line with the broader cryptocurrency market. As of press time, $XRP was trading at $2.16, gaining over 5% in the past 24 hours.
Nevertheless the token remains 11% down on the weekly timeframe.
Despite the short-term positive momentum, $XRP is showing signs of weakness, as its current price sits below the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) of $2.38. The long-term trend remains positive, with the 200-day SMA at $1.76.
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