The post Ripple just locked 700 million XRP in escrow appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Ripple kicked off 2026 with a scheduled monthly XRP release on ThursdayThe post Ripple just locked 700 million XRP in escrow appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Ripple kicked off 2026 with a scheduled monthly XRP release on Thursday

Ripple just locked 700 million XRP in escrow

Ripple kicked off 2026 with a scheduled monthly XRP release on Thursday, January 1.

As has usually been the practice, one billion XRP was freed from escrow, but the vast majority of it did not enter active circulation.

Specifically, the company has once again re-locked 70% of the release, or 700 million XRP, in long-term storage.

The remaining 300 million tokens are set to fuel liquidity and expand the ecosystem, with any unused portion likely to be returned to escrow to prevent market disruption.

With the new release, the token’s total circulating supply has reached 65.78 billion, while a total of 34.18 billion XRP has been escrowed, judging by XRPSCAN data available on Friday, January 2.

Current XRP distribution. Source: XRPSCAN

The first Ripple XRP escrow of 2026

Ripple’s first escrow of 2026 represents no change from the December 2025 unlock, when roughly 1 billion XRP was released, but 70% of it promptly re-locked in three installments.

While headline figures such as “1 billion” and “700 million” may at first appear startling, the result has historically been a muted price reaction.

The asset was trading near $1.84 on the day of release, extending a steady decline that had been going on since September 2025.

By press time, January 2, the price had somewhat improved, with XRP changing hands at $1.91 after a 2.74% daily uptick.

XRP daily price. Source: Finbold

However, the somewhat improved conditions are hardly the result of yesterday’s escrow alone. For instance, Japan’s new 2026 tax reforms have reduced crypto taxes to 20% from 55% and approved the nation’s first XRP ETF, which opens the door for further retail and institutional investment.

At the same time, the cryptocurrency has reclaimed its 50% Fibonacci retracement level at $1.87 and registered a bullish MACD crossover, meaning its apparent strength is backed by solid technicals, too.

Featured image via Shutterstock

Source: https://finbold.com/ripple-just-locked-700-million-xrp-in-escrow/

Market Opportunity
XRP Logo
XRP Price(XRP)
$1.997
$1.997$1.997
+4.09%
USD
XRP (XRP) Live Price Chart
Disclaimer: The articles reposted on this site are sourced from public platforms and are provided for informational purposes only. They do not necessarily reflect the views of MEXC. All rights remain with the original authors. If you believe any content infringes on third-party rights, please contact service@support.mexc.com for removal. MEXC makes no guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the content and is not responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided. The content does not constitute financial, legal, or other professional advice, nor should it be considered a recommendation or endorsement by MEXC.

You May Also Like

The Channel Factories We’ve Been Waiting For

The Channel Factories We’ve Been Waiting For

The post The Channel Factories We’ve Been Waiting For appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Visions of future technology are often prescient about the broad strokes while flubbing the details. The tablets in “2001: A Space Odyssey” do indeed look like iPads, but you never see the astronauts paying for subscriptions or wasting hours on Candy Crush.  Channel factories are one vision that arose early in the history of the Lightning Network to address some challenges that Lightning has faced from the beginning. Despite having grown to become Bitcoin’s most successful layer-2 scaling solution, with instant and low-fee payments, Lightning’s scale is limited by its reliance on payment channels. Although Lightning shifts most transactions off-chain, each payment channel still requires an on-chain transaction to open and (usually) another to close. As adoption grows, pressure on the blockchain grows with it. The need for a more scalable approach to managing channels is clear. Channel factories were supposed to meet this need, but where are they? In 2025, subnetworks are emerging that revive the impetus of channel factories with some new details that vastly increase their potential. They are natively interoperable with Lightning and achieve greater scale by allowing a group of participants to open a shared multisig UTXO and create multiple bilateral channels, which reduces the number of on-chain transactions and improves capital efficiency. Achieving greater scale by reducing complexity, Ark and Spark perform the same function as traditional channel factories with new designs and additional capabilities based on shared UTXOs.  Channel Factories 101 Channel factories have been around since the inception of Lightning. A factory is a multiparty contract where multiple users (not just two, as in a Dryja-Poon channel) cooperatively lock funds in a single multisig UTXO. They can open, close and update channels off-chain without updating the blockchain for each operation. Only when participants leave or the factory dissolves is an on-chain transaction…
Share
BitcoinEthereumNews2025/09/18 00:09
Solana Prepares Major Consensus Upgrade with Alpenglow Protocol

Solana Prepares Major Consensus Upgrade with Alpenglow Protocol

TLDR: Alpenglow reduces Solana finality from 12.8 seconds to 100-150 milliseconds, a 100-fold improvement. Votor enables one or two-round block finalization through
Share
Blockonomi2026/01/03 02:29
Why The Green Bay Packers Must Take The Cleveland Browns Seriously — As Hard As That Might Be

Why The Green Bay Packers Must Take The Cleveland Browns Seriously — As Hard As That Might Be

The post Why The Green Bay Packers Must Take The Cleveland Browns Seriously — As Hard As That Might Be appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers are off to a 2-0 start. Getty Images The Green Bay Packers are, once again, one of the NFL’s better teams. The Cleveland Browns are, once again, one of the league’s doormats. It’s why unbeaten Green Bay (2-0) is a 8-point favorite at winless Cleveland (0-2) Sunday according to betmgm.com. The money line is also Green Bay -500. Most expect this to be a Packers’ rout, and it very well could be. But Green Bay knows taking anyone in this league for granted can prove costly. “I think if you look at their roster, the paper, who they have on that team, what they can do, they got a lot of talent and things can turn around quickly for them,” Packers safety Xavier McKinney said. “We just got to kind of keep that in mind and know we not just walking into something and they just going to lay down. That’s not what they going to do.” The Browns certainly haven’t laid down on defense. Far from. Cleveland is allowing an NFL-best 191.5 yards per game. The Browns gave up 141 yards to Cincinnati in Week 1, including just seven in the second half, but still lost, 17-16. Cleveland has given up an NFL-best 45.5 rushing yards per game and just 2.1 rushing yards per attempt. “The biggest thing is our defensive line is much, much improved over last year and I think we’ve got back to our personality,” defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said recently. “When we play our best, our D-line leads us there as our engine.” The Browns rank third in the league in passing defense, allowing just 146.0 yards per game. Cleveland has also gone 30 straight games without allowing a 300-yard passer, the longest active streak in the NFL.…
Share
BitcoinEthereumNews2025/09/18 00:41