Ripple Releases 1 Billion XRP in Scheduled November Escrow

RippleXRP+0.31% Unlocks 1 Billion XRP for November

On November 1, 2026, blockchain tracking service Whale Alert reported two massive crypto movements involving Ripple. The San Francisco-based company unlocked a total of 1 billion XRP from its escrow system as part of its regular monthly distribution schedule.

The unlock occurred in two equal transactions of 500 million XRP tokens each. At the time of the transfer, each batch was valued at roughly $626.4 million USD, bringing the total value of the unlocked tokens to over $1.25 billion USD.

How Ripple's Monthly Escrow System Works

If you are new to the world of crypto, seeing 1 billion tokens hit the market at once might sound unusual. However, this is a standard procedure that Ripple established years ago.

Ripple originally locked 55 billion XRP into a set of smart-contract escrows. The goal was to make the supply of XRP predictable and transparent for everyone in the market.

Every month, exactly 1 billion XRP tokens unlock automatically. But that does not mean all 1 billion tokens enter active circulation.

In practice, Ripple typically returns the vast majority of the unlocked funds—usually around 700 million XRP—back into new escrow contracts. The remaining portion is kept to support business operations, maintain liquidity, and fund ecosystem development initiatives.

Looking Back at October: Swell, XRP Seoul, and RLUSD

The November unlock follows an active month for Ripple and the broader XRP community. October hosted two of the ecosystem's largest annual community events: Ripple Swell and the XRP Seoul gathering.

October also marked a key milestone for Ripple's enterprise stablecoin, RLUSD. Major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase listed RLUSD across its products, including Coinbase Prime, Coinbase Exchange, and the Coinbase Retail app.

This integration enables both institutional clients and retail users to convert U.S. dollars and other supported USD stablecoins into RLUSD on a 1-to-1 basis.

XRP Ledger Prepares for Important Technical Upgrade

Beside supply management, the XRP Ledger network is getting ready for critical maintenance updates. On-chain data from XRPScan shows an amendment named fix Cleanup3_4_0 is currently undergoing validator voting.

The two-week voting window for fix Cleanup3_4_0 began on October 21, 2026, following a vote reset. If validator approval remains consistent, the earliest date for the upgrade to activate is November 4, 2026, at 2:46 PM UTC.

What Does the Cleanup3_4_0 Upgrade Cover?

For any network proposal on the XRP Ledger to pass, validator approval must remain strictly above 80% for 14 consecutive days. If approval falls to 80% or below even once, the proposal gets rejected and the 14-day clock resets.

The fix Cleanup3_4_0 proposal introduces maintenance fixes across several core features of the XRP Ledger:

• Single Asset Vaults and Lending Protocol functionality
• Automated Market Makers (AMMs) and the permissioned decentralized exchange (DEX)
• Trust lines, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), and Multi-Purpose Tokens (MPTs)
• Escrow mechanisms, Sponsorship features, and transaction signing protocols
• Permission Delegation mechanisms

In particular, this technical fix is required to fully support Permission Delegation, a capability launched in October. Until this fix goes live, users are unable to delegate specific permissions such as the Payment Burn action.

Market Context and Overview

Monthly escrow movements are routine events designed for long-term predictability. However, overall digital asset prices continue to react to broader market conditions and global factors.

As a reminder, past performance of digital assets is not an indicator of future results. Market participants should keep track of ongoing technical developments and network updates when following crypto assets.