Ripple, the distributed payment processing service and issuer of the XRP token, has received a lot of flak in the past years for using XRP to keep itself afloat while maintaining its distance from the token.
For reference, Ripple sold over $32 million worth of XRP in Q2 of 2020, while its business reported a dismal quarter. And as per data on its own site, Ripple still holds 6 billion XRP (to be sold on the market “strategically”) with another 48 billion in an escrow account.
That has, arguably, caused a backlash from the broader, loyal (and bagholding) community about the company engaging in price manipulation, selling the token for its own gain, and being otherwise distant from the XRP ecosystem.
Such criticisms aren’t new. Popular reports suggest the firm’s monthly sales of XRP exceed 196 million tokens since December 2017, when XRP reached an all-time high of nearly $3.50. That means over 5.5 billion XRP have been sold so far—equalling a reported $3.45 billion as of today.
This year, however, Ripple did conduct some token buybacks to support XRP’s ever-falling prices. The firm purchased over $45.5 million worth of XRP in Q3 of 2020, forming support around $0.10-$0.15.
But there could be better news coming for XRP holders. As per Ripple CTO David Schwartz, the firm could burn the 48 billion escrow amount if the XRP community votes for such a scenario.
Ripple could burn its XRP
In a tweet, Schwartz stated that the XRP community could, indeed, vote for Ripple to burn its entire stash of escrowed tokens, insisting that the blockchain is “very democratic” about such decisions.
He said:
“There would be nothing Ripple could do to stop that from happening. Public blockchains are very democratic. If the majority wants a rules change, there is nothing the minority can do to stop them.”
Yes. There would be nothing Ripple could do to stop that from happening. Public blockchains are very democratic. If the majority wants a rules change, there is nothing the minority can do to stop them.
— David Schwartz (@JoelKatz) December 2, 2020
Such a move would mean that Ripple’s stash would be 6 billion tokens, while XRP’s circulating supply would be fixed to just over 50 billion tokens. The network is currently worth $27 billion and is the fourth-largest public network in the world.
Meanwhile, not everyone in the XRP community seemed pleased with the notion of the escrow amount burned.
That would be a Terrible move by the community I would sell all my xrp the second that got confirmed talk about shooting yourself in the foot. The only people that would want that is Btc maxis
— douglas johnson (@douglas4227887) December 2, 2020
But as Schwartz put it, the minority can do nothing to stop it.
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