Ripple is preparing to unlock another 1 billion $XRP from escrow on December 1, the company’s final scheduled monthly release of the cryptocurrency in 2026.
Data from $XRP Insights shows that four escrow contracts holding a combined 1 billion $XRP are scheduled to become available at 00:00 UTC on December 1. At a price of about $0.99 per $XRP, the release would have a notional value of approximately $990 million.
The upcoming unlock follows Ripple’s November 1 release, when it made another 1 billion $XRP available in two separate transactions of 500 million tokens each.
However, the scheduled release does not necessarily mean the full amount will enter circulation or reach cryptocurrency exchanges.
Ripple has a history of not releasing all unlocked $XRP
Historically, Ripple has returned a substantial portion of its monthly escrow releases to new time-locked contracts, limiting the additional $XRP entering circulation.
For example, Ripple re-escrowed approximately 700 million $XRP after its October and November releases, leaving a net 300 million $XRP outside escrow in each monthly cycle.
If Ripple follows this pattern in December, approximately 300 million $XRP would remain outside escrow, while the remaining 700 million would be locked for future releases.
The actual amount will depend on Ripple’s subsequent transactions.
Tokens released from escrow should not automatically be considered sold. $XRP may remain in Ripple-controlled wallets or be allocated to operational needs, liquidity arrangements, and ecosystem distributions.
When will Ripple escrow end?
Although the upcoming release marks the end of its 2026 schedule, Ripple’s escrow programme is far from over.
As of November 13, approximately 31.1 billion $XRP remained locked in Ripple-controlled escrow contracts, with 32 scheduled monthly releases still recorded on the ledger.
The December release will be followed by another 1 billion $XRP unlock on January 1, 2027, with further releases scheduled in subsequent months.
Ripple introduced its escrow mechanism in December 2017, initially locking 55 billion $XRP in time-based contracts to make distribution of its substantial holdings more predictable.
Under the arrangement, up to 1 billion $XRP becomes available each month. Unused tokens can be returned to escrow and assigned new release dates.
$XRP price analysis
At press time, $XRP was trading at $0.99, down about 3% over the past 24 hours. Over the week, the cryptocurrency had fallen more than 15%.
$XRP is trading well below both its 50-day simple moving average (SMA) of $1.33 and its 200-day SMA of $1.26.
Trading below both averages signals a bearish trend over the short and long term. The 50-day SMA also remains above the 200-day SMA.
The asset’s 14-day relative strength index (RSI) is 20.86, putting $XRP deep in oversold territory. This suggests selling pressure has intensified and raises the possibility of a short-term relief rebound.
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