XRP crypto in troubled waters: The mysterious Ripple Transaction

XRP, the flagship cryptocurrency of the Ripple platform, starts the year 2024 on a bleak note. Despite the growing interest of institutional investors, recent data indicates a steady decline in its value. While XRP holders are hopeful for a price recovery, unsettling news have emerged, including an unusual transaction.

Mysterious Transaction: Ripple Releases 400 Million XRP

Enthusiasts of the cryptocurrency XRP are eagerly awaiting a return to its historical highs of January 2018, when it reached $3.40. Moreover, the ambitious predictions by Arthur Britto, co-founder of Ripple, envisioning XRP at $10,000, also captivate investors.

In the meantime, as Ripple’s crypto struggles to regain strength, currently trading at $0.53, news reported by BeInCrypto has raised doubts among XRP supporters.

Ripple’s Unusual 400 Million XRP Transaction Raises Eyebrows ⤵️ https://t.co/76k9O9BUq4

— Cryptribune (@cryptribune) February 25, 2024

An unusual transaction has shaken the crypto community today as Ripple releases 400 million XRP tokens, valued at approximately $217 million, according to Whale Alert.

This surprising release has captured attention due to its atypical timing and an enigmatic note accompanying the operation. The memo refers to the execution of the platform’s February trust deposit, sparking questions among community members.

Typically, Ripple unlocks about 1 billion XRP tokens from its escrow wallet at the start of every month, an established practice. However, only half of that amount was locked up in the February trust deposit, adding to the mystery of the situation.

This controlled release aims to ensure transparency and stability of the XRP supply chain, thus limiting the market’s exposure to a predetermined volume of tokens. Despite this, the impact on XRP’s price remains modest, ranking it as the sixth-largest cryptographic token, with a market capitalization of $29.7 billion.

The Fascination of Satoshi Nakamoto

Electronic exchanges reveal the admiration of Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, for the Ripple project. Designed as early as 2004 by Ryan Fugger under the name of RipplePay, Ripple was already foreshadowing decentralized digital currency systems. In a correspondence with Martti Malmi, one of the early contributors to BTC, Nakamoto praised Ripple’s innovative approach, which disseminates trust throughout its network. This revelation sheds new light on the early days of the cryptocurrency revolution, well before the advent of Bitcoin.

“Ripple is the only system that does something with trust besides concentrating it into a central server,” Satoshi Nakamoto had noted.

Furthermore, a recent investigation highlighted email exchanges between Nakamoto and Malmi revealing the Bitcoin creator’s early warnings about the power-hungry nature of the cryptocurrency and its Proof-of-Work (PoW) mechanism. These statements, hidden for years, point out Nakamoto’s initial concerns about the growing ecological footprint of the flagship cryptocurrency.