Notice also that those funds took in $1.51 billion but hold only $950 million now, and that’s due to XRP’s performance since the funds launched. The XRP price kept falling underneath the money as it arrived, so what investors put in is worth a third less than they paid.
Ripple’s Escrow Keeps Adding What the ETFs Take Out
Ripple has been releasing tokens the whole time people have been buying XRP ETFs. On the first day of every month since December 2017, the company unlocks 1 billion XRP from escrow, and August’s release came in three transactions worth roughly $1.08 billion.
However, most of it goes straight back, because Ripple re-locks around 700 million tokens into fresh escrow contracts every month, which leaves about 300 million entering circulation to cover operations, liquidity and partnerships. On August 1, the company re-locked its routine 700 million first, in tranches of 200 million and 500 million, before releasing the rest of the billion coins.
The 300 million coins that enter circulation each month are what the funds are up against. The XRP ETFs have locked away 930 million coins across nine months, so one month of escrow release puts a third of that straight back. Across all nine months since the funds launched, escrow has added something like two to three billion XRP against the 930 million they took out.
Moreover, the tokens do not hit exchanges directly, which is why the monthly unlock rarely moves the XRP price on the day it happens. They go to Ripple’s operational wallets and get sold mostly in private deals with large buyers, so the weight arrives gradually instead of as one visible dump. Ripple still holds more than 32 billion XRP in escrow, against the 62.5 billion now circulating.
Coins Are Leaving Exchanges and the Price Still Has Not Moved
Coins held on an exchange are the ones ready to be sold at a moment’s notice, so a falling exchange balance usually means less selling pressure ahead. Binance, the largest trading venue for XRP, holds about 2.6 billion tokens, roughly 200 million below its March peak and the lowest level since February, according to CryptoQuant. Deposits have dried up alongside it, with the monthly average down to about 3.6 million tokens, marking the lowest in CryptoQuant’s records.
So the supply has been shrinking, but the buyers have disappeared at the same time. Investors put $666.61 million into XRP ETFs in November and $499.91 million in December, which is 77% of every dollar those funds have ever gathered.
The buying has all but stopped since then, with investors adding $27.29 million across the whole of July and just $1.01 million this month, including three sessions where nothing moved at all on the 4th, 7th and 10th.
Tokens in an ETF can also come straight back out when investors want their money. Grayscale’s XRP trust held 122.23 million tokens at the end of 2025 and only 55.04 million by June 30, after selling 103.41 million to pay investors who cashed out and creating just 36.27 million new ones over the same period.
What Would Squeeze the XRP Price?
A squeeze needs buyers taking coins faster than Ripple releases them, and Ripple puts about 300 million into circulation every month. At today’s price, buying that many coins would cost around $300 million a month, and the XRP ETFs have averaged $43 million a month across 2026.
The CLARITY Act is the trigger that could spark that kind of buying. JPMorgan and Standard Chartered have both estimated XRP ETFs could take in up to $8 billion in a year if the bill becomes law, since it would permanently settle XRP’s legal status. That works out to roughly $667 million a month, which is more than double what Ripple releases, and at that pace the funds would take coins off the market faster than escrow puts them back.
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