Ripple expects over 41 billion XRP in custodial wallets to be fully released by 2027

Ripple recently released its third quarter market report, disclosing its XRP holdings and market operations. As of the end of the third quarter, the disposable balance in Ripple's company account exceeded 5.25 billion XRP. These funds are used for operations at the Company's sole discretion. Over 41 billion XRP are held in custodial wallets. Ripple receives 1 billion XRP released from custodial wallets every month (for sale or to pay operating expenses), a portion of which is usually sold. Reports show that Ripple sold nearly 892 million XRP between July and September. Despite this, Ripple typically redeposits most of the XRP it receives into escrow wallets. For example, approximately 800 million XRP has been returned to escrow wallets every month since August. Depending on its pattern of custodial wallet XRP token releases and re-escrows, it may take longer than expected for custodial wallets’ XRP tokens to be fully released (Ripple said in late October that these escrow-locked tokens will be released over the next 42 months released monthly). Ripple estimates that approximately 40 billion XRP in custody will be fully released by early 2027. However, given Ripple’s company practice of re-escrowing a large portion of released funds on a monthly basis, the final release date may fall outside this timeline. (Cryptopolitan) According to previous news in July, Ripple releases XRP from escrow accounts at the beginning of each month as usual. Ripple said it uses an escrow account system to provide transparency and certainty to the XRP market. The company locks up the majority of its XRP holdings, ensuring it does not oversupply the market and manipulate prices. However, the company also uses XRP in escrow accounts to invest in and support projects in the Ripple ecosystem. Releasing 1 billion XRP tokens from escrow accounts each month does not mean that all will enter the market. Ripple may choose to sell some of it to institutional or retail investors, use some for its own purposes, or return some to a new trust.