Ripple is only a week away from its next scheduled XRP escrow unlock, with 1 billion XRP set to be released on October 1.
The upcoming release marks Ripples tenth XRP escrow unlock of the year, and it continues the long-standing monthly schedule established when the company introduced its escrow program back in 2017.
At the current price of $1.47, the unlock has a notional value of $1.47 billion.
XRP price 24-hour chart. Source: Finbold
However, while Ripples escrow system is designed to provide greater transparency and predictability, not all of the 1 billion XRP unlocked on the first day of each month enters circulation. Instead, Ripple typically returns most of the unlocked tokens to new escrow contracts.
Following the previous unlock, for example, which took place on September 1, 2026, the company put 700 million XPP back into escrow accounts, where roughly 32 billion XRP now remains.
In short, then, the actual increase in potentially circulating XRP has generally been closer to 200 million to 300 million tokens per month, rather than the full 1 billion XRP unlocked from escrow.
October 1 XRP unlock not likely to affect the price
Since Ripple originally placed 55 billion XRP into escrow contracts to establish a predictable release schedule for the market, and since the majority of unused tokens are routinely re-escrowed, the program has continued well beyond its initial timeline.
Whats more, the market has come to view the release events as more or less insignificant when it comes to XRP price. With the releases being predictable and similar each month, traders see the unlocks as already priced in.
Today, roughly one-third of XRPs fixed maximum supply of 100 billion tokens remains locked under the escrow system. Each release is enforced by the XRP Ledger (XRPL), preventing the escrowed tokens from being accessed before their scheduled unlock date.