Ripple adds 1 billion XRP tokens into circulation

Customary to its routine practice, Ripple Labs Inc. has unlocked one billion XRP tokens in several transactions. This is estimated to be around $454million, as per the U.S.-based technology company.

The first transaction happened at 12:00am (UTC), according to the data provided by Whale Alerts. The second one saw the release of 200 million XRP tokens, while the last transaction featured an unlocking of 500 million tokens. All of these were from Ripple’s escrow accounts.

The move was aimed at forcing a price slip in XRP in order to increase its selling pressure among token holders. Ripple is known for these token releases, which usually happens monthly. It is followed by a return of a significant portion of the funds back into escrow within a couple of days, further maintaining price stability.

This routine of monthly token release goes back to 2017. It was started in a bid to prevent devaluing the digital currency and to satisfy its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) needs. The strategy lays out the release of a total of one billion tokens every month over a 55-month period.

As of press time, the token release barely had an effect on the price of XRP. The sixth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation has been up in price by 0.11% in the last 24 hours. It was changing hands for $0.484, as of writing.

However, an immediate impact on the token’s price is also not expected. The fears of increased selling pressure does not guarantee immediate shifts in the market.