Retail traders may soon find XRP harder to come by, as whales have amassed nearly half of the available supply. Ripple’s escrow system, which releases a limited amount of XRP each month, contributes to this artificial scarcity.
Despite the common belief that XRP is abundant, the reality is that whale wallets hold a significant concentration of the supply. This fact was highlighted by XRP advocate Chad Steingraber on social media. As the SEC lawsuit against Ripple nears its conclusion, it’s becoming clear that a supply squeeze for XRP could be imminent.
The public supply of #XRP is much smaller than many assume. The idea of 100 billion XRP hitting the open market is a fallacy; instead, it will dwindle to a scarce commodity. The price of XRP is ultimately driven by retail trading.
Chad Steingraber (@ChadSteingraber) emphasized this point on June 22, 2024, with a tweet and accompanying image, suggesting that the public supply of XRP is misleadingly low.
Concerns over XRP scarcity have escalated as the number of whales has increased. Initially, 100 billion XRP tokens were put into circulation. However, Ripple has managed to maintain the rarity of XRP, even with such a large theoretical supply. Steingraber recently drew attention to the fact that the actual public supply is much less than perceived.
Ripple’s escrow system, which holds approximately 40 billion XRP coins, is partly responsible for the scarcity, as it releases only a small portion each month. This has led to a significantly reduced circulating supply, with the limited XRP on exchanges facing intense buying pressure due to high demand.
The recent accumulation by whales poses a threat to the retail availability of XRP. Currently, the top 10 XRP addresses hold around 11.2 billion of the 55.6 billion XRP in circulation. Furthermore, the top 50 addresses control 26.9 billion XRP, nearly half of the existing supply.
In comparison, less than 16% of Bitcoin’s total circulating supply is owned by the top 103 Bitcoin addresses. The stark contrast in supply between the two cryptocurrencies creates an environment ripe for XRP whales to dominate the circulating supply.
At present, according to CoinGecko, XRP’s price stands at approximately $0.4739, marking a 0.58% decrease from the previous day and a 3.69% decline over the past week. Previously, CNF reported a 170% surge in XRP trade volume to $1.035 billion. Additionally, around 10 million XRP are locked in the AMM pools of the XRP Ledger.
For those interested in XRP:
– A guide to purchasing Ripple (XRP)
– Tutorial for setting up a Ripple XRP wallet
– Check the 24-hour price of XRP
– Stay updated with more Ripple (XRP) news
– Learn about Ripple (XRP)
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