Ripple to unlock 1 billion XRP tomorrow, May 1; Sell pressure incoming

While XRP has been on a mild uptrend since mid-April, reaching two temporary highs near $2.30, the last 24 hours saw a substantial downtrend as the token plunged 2.78% to its press time price of $2.23.
The timing of the downward correction has been particularly unfortunate as Ripple Labs is scheduled to unlock 1 billion XRP, worth just over $2.2 billion, tomorrow, on May 1.
Under most circumstances, the company’s scheduled unlocks, which are part of its long-term strategy and the long-standing escrow system, don’t have a meaningful impact on the token’s price action. However, the sudden jump in supply could exacerbate the existing downtrend.
In the May cycle, two Ripple wallets will become active after years of being locked: Ripple (26) and Ripple (27).
The former contains two escrows scheduled to unlock with 200 million and 300 million XRP, while the latter has one batch of 500 million tokens, according to the data Finbold retrieved from XRPScan on April 22.
Why the possible impact on XRP price will be short-lived
Still, even if there is an impact on price, it will likely be ephemeral as Ripple’s standard practice involves relocking the majority of the tokens after some are allocated for operational and similar uses.
The possible downward pressure is also unlikely to last, even if it proves meaningful, due to the numerous other factors influencing XRP’s price in 2025. So far, external developments such as the unpredictable yet escalating Trump trade war and Bitcoin’s (BTC) cryptocurrency market moves have had the token within their gravity.
More recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decided to postpone its ruling on Franklin Templeton’s spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) – a development that could prove bearish, despite the SEC’s current setup being nominally crypto-friendly.
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