Ripple continued its long-standing monthly XRP release cycle on Monday, December 1, remaining on track to exhaust its locked reserves by 2035.
The usual pattern continued: one billion XRP was freed from escrow, but not all of it entered active circulation.
As has often been the practice, the company re-locked 70% of the release (700 million XRP) between 1:12 am (UTC) and 1:14 am (UTC), December 2, meaning the bulk of the batch returned to long-term storage almost immediately.
The remaining 300 million token will drive liquidity, ecosystem growth, and institutional allocation, with any unused supply expected to be sent back into escrow to avoid destabilizing the market.
XRP price recovering after a nosedive
Historically, Ripple escrow unlocks have tended to leave XRP unaffected, as traders price them in a way in advance. However, this month’s moves coincided with a somewhat sensitive period for the cryptocurrency.
XRP was struggling alongside the rest of the crypto market, trading below $2 just as Bitcoin (BTC) dropped below $84,000 as the release was made. Nonetheless, XRP price has recovered rapidly since then, gaining 6.94% on the day and changing hands at $2.13 as of the time of writing.
The renewed momentum is due to a mix of regulatory progress, institutional demand, and Bitcoin’s recovery.
Namely, Ripple secured a new update to its Major Payment Institution (MPI) license in Singapore on December 1, clearing the way for end-to-end payment services powered by XRP as the settlement asset.
Likewise, the appetite for XRP remains strong, with U.S. spot XRP ETFs seeing $89.65 million in inflows on December 1, lifting total allocations to $756 million since mid-November. At the same time, Grayscale’s upcoming ETF decision on December 18 and new custody arrangements tied to RLUSD are driving hype further up.
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