Jed McCaleb’s XRP Wallet Is Finally Empty

After years of holding a vast chunk of XRP tokens in his wallet, the Ripple cofounder has finally completed dumping most of it into the market. 

Selling The Tacostand Wallet

McCaleb’s ‘Tacostand’ wallet saga has been ten years in the making. As one of the founders of Ripple Labs, McCaleb had received a share of the initial 20 billion XRP tokens. In 2013, he split with his Ripple team and left the company. He would then go on to found the Stellar crypto. At the time of leaving, McCaleb possessed an estimated 8 billion XRP tokens, which was a matter of significant concern for the Ripple team. He had expressed his desire to sell off his share, which would have destabilized the asset’s value in the market. 

Ripple Strikes Deal

To prevent this, in 2014, a deal was struck between the two parties, under which Ripple continued to act as the custodian of McCaleb’s tokens, which would be gradually sold off through the internal market over a seven-year period. The deal also dictated the number of tokens that he would be able to sell daily. Between 2018 through 2019, the Ripple co-founder was allowed to sell 1 billion XRP per year, and by 2020 it was bumped up to over 2 billion XRP. Since the deal was struck, McCaleb has regularly sold off tokens from his wallet, which comprised a whopping 18.6% of the total circulating XRP supply. 

McCaleb Sells Off In Batches

The initial agreement lasted till the end of 2020, by which only 1 billion XRPs had been sold off and redistributed in the market. Reports emerged that indicated that on February 14, 2021, his ‘Tacostand’ wallet had sold 38 million XRPs, which was worth around $22 million at the time. He continued selling more tokens for the rest of the month, offloading a total of $1.22 billion worth of XRP in February alone. At that point, it was expected that the selling would continue at the same rate, which would empty out the wallet by May 2021. However, McCaleb paused selling temporarily when Ripple was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC). 

The Final Leg

The sales were picked up soon after, and around the end of June 2022, it was revealed that around 22 million XRP tokens were sold in a span of three days. Then a week ago, it was disclosed that the Tacostand wallet held around 81 million XRP worth just over $26 million. This gave the community renewed hope that the wallet would empty out soon, judging by the sell-off rate. Finally, on July 18, 2022, the final transaction of close to 4 million XRPs, worth $1.42 million was conducted, leaving just a mere 47.7 XRP, or just over $17, in the wallet. The momentous occasion was celebrated by community members who expressed their relief at the end of a long and concerning process. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.