Ripple reports XRP holdings under 50% as lawsuit verdict nears

Ripple presently owns less than fifty percent of the total XRP quantity. This eliminates worries regarding the token’s centralization pending the result of the SEC lawsuit. Ripple’s most recent market report praised the accomplishment as a landmark.

The crypto entity disclosed that the total quantity of XRP owned in the company’s wallets was less than 50 billion. Ripple has been criticized in the past by some who have questioned the company’s disproportionately high holding of XRP. These critics say it grants the organization centralized control over its XRP Ledger (XRPL).

Ripple now holds less than half of the total XRP supply

In a Q3 report released on October 27, Ripple denied centralization criticism once more. Additionally, the company noted that its XRP holdings continue to decrease, going below 50 billion tokens, or 50 percent of the total supply. In the third quarter, total XRP sales decreased from $408.90 million in the previous quarter to $310.68 million.

Critics have pointed to the company’s XRP ownership as an indicator that the XRP Ledger is controlled by Ripple. This is not true […] The XRP Ledger (XRPL) uses Federated Byzantine Consensus to validate transactions, add new features, and secure the network, which means that each validator node gets one vote regardless of how much XRP they own.

Q3 XRP report

The company went on to say that it operates four of the more than 130 validator nodes on the XRPL. The CEO of Ripple Labs, Brad Garlinghouse, also referred to the event as a milestone. He cited the outflows from Ripple’s wallets as evidence that clients find the XRP Ledger more useful.

Ripple’s ODL cross-border payment service is one of its primary business services. In addition, the company disclosed that it expanded the product in Q3 through a relationship with the foreign exchange company Travelex to ease transactions between Brazil and Mexico.

Ripple has continued to sell XRP only in connection with ODL transactions, and ODL volumes have ramped up as Ripple’s ODL [On-Demand Liquidity] business expanded globally.

Q3 XRP report

The third quarter of 2022 was a prosperous period for On-Demand Liquidity. Customers continue to employ ODL for use cases beyond individual payments, such as treasury and bulk payments, as Ripple expands into new markets.

Since February 2019, the company has not undertaken any programmatic sales. Ripple sales accounted for 0.42 percent of the global XRP volume in the third quarter.

Prior XRP manipulation concerns

With a selloff by co-founder Jed McCaleb, questions were raised regarding the token’s manipulation by the Ripple leadership. McCaleb founded Ripple Labs in 2012 before departing two years later to launch Stellar’s competing network. In exchange for his services, the business issued him nine billion tokens, representing around 9 percent of the total supply.

Beginning in 2014, McCaleb proceeded to sell his crypto over the years. McCaleb finished his prolonged selling frenzy earlier this year, earning a total of $3.14 billion.

The latest in XRP vs. SEC litigation

The case between Ripple and the SEC has been the most tense in crypto history. The good news is that the crypto community will soon witness the end of this case. Nonetheless, the ambiguity and final judgment might devastate the cryptocurrency market in unprecedented ways.

In its Q3 report, the crypto firm discussed its protracted legal struggle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This month, XRP achieved a significant victory in relation to the elusive William Hinman documents.

The in question documents pertain to a speech given by former SEC division director Hinman, in which he explains the regulatory position of BTC and ETH in terms that may aid Ripple’s case and contradict the SEC’s arguments:

Since Hinman’s market moving speech, the SEC continues to deliberately create ambiguity, instead of providing clear guidance, and uses that ambiguity to bring enforcement actions to stifle crypto innovation in the United States […] In terms of next steps, in November, the SEC and Ripple will file reply briefs, and, from there, await the Judge’s decision on the motions.

Q3 XRP report

Both Ripple and the SEC filed requests for summary judgment in September. If authorized, the Judge would render a final decision on the matter, preventing it from proceeding to trial.

This month, both parties filed motions to deny the summary judgment request of the opposing party. The report concluded that both sides would file reply papers the following month and await the Judge’s ruling.

XRP price 

Unlike a number of other significant assets that reached new all-time highs last year, XRP reached its all-time high on January 7, 2018, at $3.40, over five years ago. According to CoinMarketCap, the current XRP price is $0.464890. The 24-hour trading volume of the coin is $1,235,618,318. XRP is down 0.67 percent over the past 24 hours.

Depending on the outcome of the ongoing Ripple vs. SEC litigation, XRP-related events could significantly impact the price of XRP.