Ripple CTO Addresses XRP Price Suppression Accusations

Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) David Schwartz has addressed rumors that Ripple’s XRP sales increased exponentially in December. His statement provides some clarification to the XRP community, as Ripple’s alleged sales have long been pinpointed as the reason for XRP’s relatively stagnant price movement. 

Ripple Isn’t Dumping XRP Tokens On The Market

In a post shared on his X (formerly Twitter) platform, Schwartz clarified that the figures showing that Ripple’s monthly XRP sales increased about three times in December are inaccurate. He alluded to the next XRP Markets Report, which will help dispel these rumors, as he stated that it will include Ripple’s aggregate holdings of XRP over the quarter. 

The Ripple CTO noted that there hasn’t been any significant change in Ripple’s holdings quarter-on-quarter, as Ripple’s sales in the last quarter followed a similar pattern to the previous one. As highlighted by Schwartz, the changes in Ripple’s XRP holdings have happened due to the transfers, grants, sales, and nothing out of the ordinary. 

Schwartz’s comments came in response to an X post made by crypto analyst ABS, where he suggested that Ripple was “heavily dumping” XRP tokens on the market. The analyst further claimed that Ripple’s net sales of XRP rose to 237 million units in December 2023, amounting to three times the crypto firm’s average monthly sales. 

The impact of Ripple’s XRP sales also continues to be up for debate. Pro-XRP crypto YouTuber Jerry Hall had once asserted that Ripple is suppressing XRP’s price with its monthly sales. However, following his assertion, another X user clarified then that Ripple’s XRP sales didn’t have any direct impact on the token’s price on crypto exchanges. 

Ripple’s CEO Comments On Spot Bitcoin ETFs Approval

Following the approval of Spot Bitcoin ETFs, Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse took to his X platform to congratulate those who get this achieved. He also noted that the significance of this moment “cannot be overstated.” Garlinghouse believes that this development will further legitimize crypto as an asset class. 

Furthermore, he expects that this event will be another catalyst for the institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies. This, he says, will lead the industry to focus on broader real-world use cases and underpin crypto’s legitimization in the process. 

Garlinghouse and his company, Ripple, are already known for providing a real-world use case for the XRP token, which they use to facilitate transactions on their payment service. 

Interestingly, XRP is being touted as one of the digital assets that could be next in line to have its ETF following the approval of the Spot Bitcoin ETFs. However, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart recently suggested that an XRP ETF is unlikely to launch this year.