- Ripple shareholder SBI Holdings won’t include Ripple’s escrowed XRP in valuing its Ripple shares.
- SBI, with nearly 10% equity in Ripple, awaits Ripple IPO for proper XRP escrow valuation.
- Ripple’s ~36.5B escrowed XRP debated; SBI’s stance impacts its Ripple investment value.
SBI Holdings, one of Ripple Labs’ longest-standing external shareholders with under 10% equity in Ripple, will not include the XRPs held in escrow by Ripple when valuing its Ripple shares for its corporate books.
In its latest report, SBI’s Business Innovator Group told shareholders that it would wait until Ripple IPO or other similar event determines a proper valuation factoring in this component of Ripple’s assets to its investment value.
Ripple’s Massive XRP Escrow and Release Program Context
According to reports, Ripple Labs (Ripple) holds about 36.54 billion XRP in XRP escrow holdings, a significant portion of the cryptocurrency’s 100 billion maximum supply.
The FinTech company structured its escrow release program to make 1 billion XRP available from escrow monthly. Ripple started the escrow release program in 2017, designing it to maintain a predictable supply pattern.
Related: XRP Escrow Under Fire: Lawyer Debunks “Price Dump” Theory
It is worth noting that Ripple uses the released escrow XRP tokens to facilitate institutional sales and operational expenses, among other implied use cases. However, despite the designed program, Ripple applies flexibility when executing the token release program.
Based on prevailing market conditions, the firm might reduce the number of released tokens or return some XRP to escrow. This answers how SBI Holdings values its near 10% equity stake in Ripple by showing the underlying asset’s managed supply.
For instance, Ripple returned 700 million XRP to escrow last March without releasing the expected 1 billion tokens. According to reports, the FinTech firm created the escrow with 700 million tokens from its company XRP account. An account separate from the original batch of tokens held in escrow.
Market Perspectives on Ripple’s Escrowed XRP and Valuation Impact
The valuation policy of institutional investors in pre-IPO crypto firms like Ripple is often conservative. Most crypto analysts think the volume of XRP Ripple held in escrow is significantly high and amounts to a massive profit for the company if included in the overall XRP valuation. Critics, however, believe such a large holding could negatively impact XRP’s value by potentially increasing the supply if not carefully managed.
Related: Ripple’s XRP Escrow Explained: Dispelling Myths and Fears
However, supporters think differently, with most of them relying on Ripple’s transparent token release approach to diffuse potential uncertainties the XRP escrow could cause in the market, which is crucial for SBI awaiting Ripple IPO for clear valuation of its Ripple investment.
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