Ripple’s $600M XRP token drop to set the stage for $1.5B August crypto unlocks

Ripple is scheduled to unlock and release 1 billion XRP tokens worth $609M on August 1. Since its 2017 statement, its escrow has unlocked 1 million XRP at the beginning of every month. The 2017 statement explained Ripple’s XRP escrow strategy, where Ripple (24) and Ripple (25) wallets were used to release the unlocked tokens on the first day of every month.      

According to crypto trader BlockVoyager, Avalanche ($AVAX) and Wormhole ($W) had scheduled token unlocks in August. Data from SoSo Value also revealed that  $PRIME and $GAL would be among seven other crypto projects scheduled to unlock tokens in August. $OP ($55.16M) and $SUI ($50.06M) contribute to the highest tokens scheduled to unlock. 

Ripple’s XRP tokens to unlock on 1st August

According to the 2017 statement , Ripple’s monthly XRP escrow release of 1 billion tokens was part of the planned unlocks of the 55 billion locked tokens scheduled for systematic release until Jan 2025. However, the statement revealed that not all XRP tokens would be released to the market during the unlocking. Notably, “leftover” tokens would be placed into a new escrow for future release.

“The Esrcow was originally created to clear up uncertainty around XRP’s future supply. Meaning that Ripple did not want to worry the market by controlling a significant amount of the XRP supply.”

– SMQKE

According to SMQKE, the majority of the XRP was escrowed for periodic release to incentivize market makers for XRP-based currency exchanges and to sell to institutional investors, not retail. SMQKE clarified that the XRP price would be significantly lower than it currently is if Ripple was actually dumping XRP out of the escrow.

More token unlocks are scheduled for next month

According to BlockVoyager, August would see massive token unlocks across different crypto projects. The crypto trader affirmed that Wormhole was scheduled to unlock 600 million tokens worth $180 million. Avalanche is also set to release 9.5 million tokens valued at $268 million on August 20.

Crypto analyst SoSo Value announced that several other crypto projects, including $ENA ($6.94M), $OP ($55.16M), $GAL (12.64M), $PRIME ($5.99M), $DYDX ($11M), $ZETA (33.61M), and $SUI ($50.06M) will unlock tokens in August. 

According to the data, $PRIME and $OP will unlock 1.75% and 2.79% of their total supplies, respectively. The data revealed that $DYDX, $SUI, and $ZETA would also unlock 3.65%, 2.56%, and 18.92%, respectively, on August 1. Further revelations from the data showed that $GAL would unlock 3.52%, and $ENA would unlock 0.87% of their total supplies on August 2 and August 3, respectively.