When XRP launched in 2012, 100 billion tokens were created at once, all at genesis. The founders kept 20 billion for themselves and gave the other 80 billion to the company. In December 2017, Ripple locked 55 billion XRP into smart contracts to avoid dumping the entire supply at once.
That escrow releases 1 billion XRP every single month on the 1st, automatically, with zero human intervention. Ripple typically relocks 70‑80% back into new escrow contracts and keeps the rest – roughly 200 to 300 million XRP – to fund the entire company.
At XRP’s current price, 300 million tokens equal about $400 million, every single month.
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The Uncomfortable Truth: Ripple Admits It Runs on XRP Sales
Crypto Tony laid out the full mechanics in a blunt thread. Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse told the Financial Times directly that the company “would not be profitable or cash flow positive without selling XRP.” The CEO himself admitted the entire company runs on dumping its own token.
Ripple pays partners like MoneyGram in XRP as “market development fees” – over 61 million dollars to MoneyGram alone. MoneyGram then told reporters: “We sell XRP as soon as we receive it because we don’t hold any XRP.” Partners dump it immediately, and Ripple announces the partnership as adoption.
The SEC called this out in their own complaint. They wrote that MoneyGram “became yet another conduit for Ripple’s unregistered XRP sales into the market, with Ripple receiving the added benefit that it could tout its inorganic XRP use and trading volume.” Meanwhile, the co‑founder who left, Jed McCaleb, kept 9 billion XRP and spent 8 years dumping from a wallet the community named “Tacostand,” walking away with $3.2 billion.
Ripple had to sue him just to slow the sales down. The bull case for a decade has been “banks are coming,” but Bank of America, Santander, PNC, American Express, and JPMorgan all partnered with Ripple without ever using XRP. They use Ripple’s messaging software, not the token.
Read also: Grok AI Delivers a Stunning XRP Price Prediction for 2035
The Community’s Reply: A Decade of Dilution
An XRP community member, Vincent van Code, responded with dark humor. At 300 million tokens sold per month, it will take 9‑10 years for the escrow to reach zero and circulating supply to hit 100%. He joked that he cannot wait a decade to see the next FUD narrative after the escrow ends.
300 million tokens per month. 😢 At this rate it will take 9-10 years for the escrow to reach zero and circulating supply to reach 100%. I wish they would sell it much more quickly.
— bill morgan (@Belisarius2020) April 25, 2026
I cannot wait a decade. I am impatient to see what will become the new dominant FUD narrative… https://t.co/mzGjJKnBzN
Perhaps Ripple will set up a new escrow with 1,200 XRP releasing 1 token per month, extending the “Ripple dump” narrative for another century. The reality is that every holder of XRP is being slowly diluted by the company itself, by design, on a monthly schedule written into the blockchain.
XRP is now down 6 consecutive months. A big reason is that every month, a new batch of supply hits the market from the same wallet, and everyone knows it’s coming. The company that fought the SEC for 5 years and won is funded almost entirely by printing its own token and selling it to the people who believe in it.
XRP Price Outlook – Stuck in a Range, Waiting for a Spark
As we covered in our weekly XRP price prediction, price action remains trapped inside a clear range. XRP tried to push up to $1.51 but couldn’t stay there. Since then, each high has been lower than the last, with resistance now around $1.46‑$1.47.
Support is still holding near $1.33‑$1.35, keeping the price in a smaller range. The market looks like it is resting after a failed breakout attempt. XRP now trades at $1.42, stuck dead in the middle.
Bullish case: If buyers reclaim $1.46‑$1.47 and push above $1.50, the next stops are $1.60 and then $1.75. A clean break above that zone could clear the way to $1.90‑$2.00, especially if the overall market improves.
Bearish case: If XRP loses the $1.35 support zone, pressure increases. That would expose $1.28, with a deeper move potentially reaching $1.15. With current momentum still weak, that risk stays in play if Bitcoin fails to hold stability.
Likely case: The most probable path is more sideways trading between $1.33 and $1.47, until something comes along to push price out. The monthly escrow sell‑off is already priced in, but it also caps any aggressive rally.
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