Ripple Sells 2.23B XRP in 2023 as Monthly XRP Sales Increases by 37%

This year, Ripple has sold 37% more XRP per month than last year, triggering concerns and bullish sentiments among investors.

Ripple’s XRP sales have continued to increase over the past two years. This year, the financial technology behemoth has sold 37% more XRP per month than in 2022. This development has raised both bullish sentiments and concerns.

In a recent tweet, Mr. Huber, an acclaimed sleuth and XRP community influencer, first drew the public’s attention to the development.

Ripple sold 2.22 billion xrp since 2023 started. That's about 315 million per month. About 50% more than the usual 200 million in 2022. Now the crying is about to start. But I can reassure you. It is not XRP Tards who have bought these 2.2 billion XRP and XRP has outperformed… pic.twitter.com/smkjqj1BwM

— Mr. Huber??? (@Leerzeit) July 24, 2023

Ripple Has Sold 2.22B XRP This Year

He rightly pointed out that Ripple has sold 2.22 billion XRP over the past seven months of this year. This is an average of 315 million XRP sold by the technology company every month since January. A close look at XRP’s circulating supply substantiates these claims.

Notably, XRP’s circulating supply stood at 50.334 billion at the start of this year. However, due to the monthly escrow releases and XRP sales, this figure has increased to 52.554 billion. This signals a 4.4% increase in circulating supply this year and an additional 2.22 billion tokens.

This figure was much lower last year. Notably, the entire 2022 saw Ripple sell only 2.75 billion XRP over 12 months. This translates to an average of 230 million XRP sold monthly in 2022.

Interestingly, Ripple’s monthly XRP sales this year, 315 million XRP, is about 37% more than last year’s monthly sales, which stood at 230 million XRP. Mr. Huber had erroneously put this rate at 50% but corrected it in a subsequent tweet.

Ripple sold about 2.75 billion XRP in 2022. That's 230 million per month. 2023 it's 315 million. That's 37% more per month. pic.twitter.com/6ykNyWJaD0

— Mr. Huber??? (@Leerzeit) July 24, 2023

Last year’s monthly average was higher than 2021’s, despite being comparatively lower than this year’s. Notably, in 2021, Ripple only sold 2 billion XRP, an average of 166 million monthly XRP. This pattern suggests that the firm has been increasing its XRP sales over the years.

Why Does This Matter?

The recent disclosure has elicited varied responses within the XRP community. This difference in sentiments stems from the fact that while increased sales could affect the market, it also underscores a growing demand for XRP among institutions.

Ripple typically unlocks 1 billion XRP from escrow every month. However, the firm locks back any remaining balance after selling the necessary amount. In June, Ripple locked 900 million XRP back in the escrow wallets shortly after releasing 1 billion. The firm sold 100 million tokens.

The amount of XRP sold per month partly depends on the demand for the asset from institutional investments. More demand results in more XRP sold. Mr. Huber pointed out that these increased XRP sales are not going to “XRP tards.” 

This implies that neutral institutional investors are procuring more XRP tokens. This pattern bodes well for the asset, demonstrating greater demand, especially when it has attained regulatory clarity in the United States.

Conversely, some XRP proponents have raised concerns about the increasing monthly rate. These individuals stress that the higher the sell rate, the more impact the distribution could have on the XRP market.