Ripple Prepares for Second 1B XRP Escrow Unlock of 2026

• This is Ripple’s second planned monthly release under its ongoing escrow schedule.
• Most of January’s 1 billion XRP was sent back into escrow (700 million tokens).
• Historically speaking, the unlock doesn’t usually cause a big price crash.

Ripple Labs is set to unlock another 1 billion XRP from its reserve fund on February 1, 2026. This is the second planned monthly release under its ongoing escrow schedule, set up back in 2017 to bring predictability and transparency to XRP’s circulating supply.

Ripple placed 55 billion XRP into escrow years ago, structuring them into over 50 monthly contracts of 1 billion XRP each, which are programmed to unlock on the first day of each month. Each time a batch unlocks, Ripple decides how much to actually release, often putting most of it right back into escrow to prevent flooding the market.

This method is different from Bitcoin’s fixed, algorithm-driven release schedule. It allows for controlled, flexible releases that Ripple can adjust to avoid flooding the market while still meeting its business needs.

Ripple has been following this routine lately, putting around 60% to 80% of each monthly release right back into escrow, meaning only a smaller amount hits the market. 

For instance, most of January’s 1 billion XRP was sent back into escrow (700 million tokens), so the actual amount added to the market was considerably smaller than announced. The same thing is expected to happen in February. While the headline number is 1 billion, most of it will likely be locked away again.

Price Impact on XRP

Although unlocking this many XRP tokens sounds like a lot, history shows it doesn’t usually cause a big price crash because most of those tokens are locked up again. Price changes around these dates often have more to do with the overall mood of the crypto market.

XRP itself has seen shaky performance in January, registering some notable gains at the beginning of the month, before falling.

Still, spot XRP ETFs have experienced notable inflows. Just last week, spot XRP ETFs saw a net investment of around $56 million. The Grayscale XRP ETF (GXRP) scored the biggest weekly investment last week, bringing in a net $23.75 million.

XRP is currently trading slightly below $2, which is approximately a 4% decrease in the last 24 hours. 

Related: Ripple, UC Berkeley Launch Blockchain Accelerator Focused on XRP Ledger Projects