XRP News: Ripple Moves 1B XRP, Locks 700M Back in Escrow—No April Release Yet

• After multiple high-value transfers across Ripple-associated wallets, 700 million XRP was re-locked in escrow.
• Despite these movements, XRP has dropped 2.47% to $2.13. Market analysts remain hopeful for a price rally to $3 or beyond in April.

Ripple, the firm that operates XRP’s blockchain, has made huge fund transfers in the form of 1 billion XRP tokens, despite the unusual absence of the typical monthly escrow release. This development comes amid a pattern that has persisted since last year, where the expected 1 billion XRP release on the first day of the month has not occurred for April.

A Look At Ripple’s High-Value XRP Transactions

Notwithstanding the absent escrow release, Ripple went ahead with its standard fund movements for April. Whale Alert, a blockchain tracking service, reported an initial transfer of 500 million XRP across various wallets earlier today.

The transaction history shows that at 03:06 UTC, Ripple (26) transferred 300 million XRP, valued at around $629 million, to a recognized Ripple-associated address “rBg…91m.” Later, at 03:09 UTC, another 200 million XRP, valued at $420 million, was transferred from Ripple (26) to another Ripple-associated wallet, “rKD…2op.”

Nonetheless, Whale Alert did not capture further transactions. Two minutes later, another set of transfers was triggered by yet another Ripple-affiliated wallet, Ripple (27). At 03:28 UTC, this wallet sent 170 million XRP, valued at $357 million, to “rKD…2op.”

Subsequently, at 03:31 UTC, another 330 million XRP, valued at $693 million, was sent to another affiliated wallet, “rDd…eCK.” This was the first transaction recorded by this address since March 1.

Re-Locking Of XRP Tokens

After the transfer action, the blockchain firm instructed some of the transferred XRP back into escrow. The address “rKD…2op,” having received a total of 370 million XRP from the previous transactions, locked the full amount in escrow at 03:33 UTC. Likewise, at 03:36 UTC, the address “rDd…eCK,” having received 330 million XRP, also locked the full amount in escrow. This left a total of 700 million XRP re-locked out of the 1 billion XRP transferred.

In the meantime, the initial recipient address, “rBg…91m,” still retains the 300 million XRP it received in the first transaction, increasing its balance to 400 million XRP. It is rumored that these funds will be used for Ripple’s business operations, as the company often makes high-value transactions using its native token.

For further context, in a normal occurrence, Ripple’s escrow releases 1 billion XRP at the beginning of a month, and this process happens autonomously. The firm would then lock up some of the amounts, normally approximately 700 million XRP, while the balance goes into circulation or gets used for whatever operational purposes there may be. However, this month’s scheduled release is yet to be seen, echoing an unpredictable trend since last year.

Though it is unknown when the system will initiate the escrow release for April, there is a chance of delayed activation towards the end of the month. Meanwhile, XRP’s market performance has taken a hit amidst all these large-value transactions. The XRP price has decreased by 2.47% to $2.13 as of reporting on Wednesday, April 2. Despite the recent selling pressure, analysts are still hopeful for an XRP price rally to $3 and beyond in this month of April, as highlighted earlier.