Law expert Fred Rispoli has warned that there could be more large XRP holders like former Ripple CTO Jed McCaleb who can further suppress the price of XRP.
The long-standing case between Ripple and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) took a fresh turn this week. The regulator seeks to impose a $2 billion fine on the San Francisco-based company for selling XRP to institutional investors early in the project’s history.
While that matter remains up for debate, the community has been reflecting on the consequences of Ripple’s early XRP sales to institutional buyers. Precisely, some reason there could be more large XRP holders out there who could be suppressing the price of the cryptocurrency as former Ripple CTO Jed McCaleb did for several years.
Recall that Jed McCaleb, one of Ripple’s early cohort of programmers, received 9 billion XRP as a co-founder. After parting ways with the company, Jed McCaleb continued to gradually sell his large XRP holdings through his wallet, which had the infamous title “Taco Stand.”
As reported by The Crypto Basic at that time, Jed McCaleb realized $3.1 billion from the sale. It took eight years, and the constant sales, though systematic, contributed to selling pressure.
Are There More Jed McCaleb Left?
Reflecting on the Jed McCaleb experience, law expert Fred Rispoli recently floated the idea that there could be more of his kind left in the XRP investor community.
Such entities would have acquired XRP from Ripple early in its development and would still be hoarding 100s of millions of the cryptocurrency acquired at a possible price of $0.0001.
He added that these entities will understandably “sell gradually over the years not to suppress the retail price too much.”
Exactly. If I had a 100s of millions of XRP that I bought at $0.0001, I would sell gradually over the years to not suppress the retail price too much. Essentially there are more Jed McCaleb Taco Stands out there than we realize.
— Fred Rispoli (@freddyriz) March 26, 2024
An XRP enthusiast joined the conversation with the suggestion that the price of XRP may be much higher if the institutions had not gotten the coin at a steep discount.