Ripple unlocked 1 billion XRP from its monthly escrow on June 1, 2026, in a set of three transactions worth more than $1.33 billion at current prices. The release — split into batches of 500 million, 400 million, and 100 million — is part of a standing program that feeds tokens from a locked pool into the market. But this month’s unlock comes with fresh hints from top executives that the company may eventually destroy part of the remaining escrow instead of letting it circulate.
How the escrow works
Ripple holds 38.15 billion XRP in escrow out of a total supply of 100 billion. The other 61.85 billion are already in circulation. Each month the company releases 1 billion XRP from the locked pile, then typically re-locks most of it — keeping only a fraction for its own operational use. That pattern makes it hard to predict when the escrow will ever run dry, because Ripple voluntarily returns unused tokens to the same vault month after month.
What executives are saying about a burn
David Schwartz, Ripple’s chief technology officer, recently brought up a different option: permanently wiping out locked tokens. He said Ripple could unilaterally ensure that the remaining escrow never enters circulation, and that the effect would be similar to selling by simply transferring control of the escrow accounts. Schwartz pointed to the Stellar Development Foundation’s 2019 decision to destroy 55 billion XLM, which he noted did not cause any noticeable price movement.
CEO Brad Garlinghouse, when asked directly, did not rule out a one-time destruction of the escrowed tokens. Burning the leftover supply — roughly 38% of all XRP that will ever exist — is an option Ripple has not dismissed, though Schwartz questioned whether such a move would actually move the price.
Fixed supply, flexible strategy
The XRP Ledger has a hard cap of 100 billion coins, and that number cannot be changed. That makes any decision to burn escrow a permanent reduction in the total potential circulating supply. The company’s practice of repeatedly re-locking tokens already makes the true release schedule opaque — adding a potential burn into the mix only muddies the outlook further.
Neither executive offered a timeline or any indication that a decision is imminent. The debate remains internal, and the market is left watching each month’s routine unlock with a new question: whether this time Ripple might just set the escrow on fire.
