Ripple and key company figures have sharply reduced their XRP holdings since 2012, but XRP's price has risen more than 30,000 percent over the same period. The market is focusing on the point that prices rose sharply even during periods when tokens were released, contrary to claims that Ripple's XRP sales pushed prices down.

The Crypto Basic, a blockchain media outlet, reported on Monday that the XRP Ledger was launched in 2012 with a structure in which 100 billion XRP were created at once. It has no mechanism such as mining or staking that issues additional coins, meaning supply has been fixed from the start. Development began in 2011, led by Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto and David Schwartz, now Ripple's chief technology officer.

Soon after XRPL launched, Ripple, then known as Newcoin, then Opencoin and later Ripple, took 80 percent of the total supply, or 80 billion XRP, and played a central role in distribution and ecosystem operations. The remaining 20 billion XRP are known to have been allocated to founders and early insiders.

Ripple introduced an escrow system in 2017 to reduce the amount of tokens released into the market at once. It locked up 55 billion XRP and has operated a structure in which up to 1 billion XRP is released each month.

Current holdings show Ripple has 3.5 billion XRP that is immediately usable based on traceable wallets, while 34.185 billion XRP is in escrow. Among key figures, Chris Larsen (크리스 라센), Ripple's chairman, holds 2.5 billion XRP, and Arthur Britto holds 1.3 billion XRP. Combined, Ripple and key figures hold about 41.485 billion XRP. The roughly 58.5 billion XRP left after subtracting current holdings from the initial 100 billion is estimated to have been sold or released into the market over time.

Prices, however, rose sharply in the opposite direction. Early market data for XRP, in August 2013, was $0.00587, while the current level is around $1.87, for a gain of 31,756 percent. The fact that prices rose over the long term even during periods when substantial volumes entered the market is also cited as a counterargument to claims that sales lead directly to weak prices.

Still, criticism has also emerged that Ripple's large XRP holdings have fueled concerns about centralisation. Schwartz has previously mentioned that Ripple's ongoing XRP sales are aimed at reducing excessive holdings.

The industry sees Ripple's XRP sales and escrow releases continuing to affect short-term price swings. But given the long-term price gains regardless of estimated sales, critics say investors need to look not only at supply changes but also at market demand and sentiment.