A recent social media post has stirred up a new debate in the cryptocurrency community, raising the question: Is the price of XRP being suppressed outside of the SEC lawsuit? The post quickly went viral, with some calling it an unnecessary spread of fear and others suggesting it alludes to the potential for market manipulation.
What Did They Say?
The post argues that Ripple's monthly XRP sales, unusual network patterns, and historical price volatility — particularly during XRP's famous bull run in 2017 — imply the potential for price suppression. The post even cites a study that found a negative correlation between XRP's transaction network and its price performance. Naturally, this has raised many questions within the cryptocurrency community.
Expert Clarifies the Issue
However, lawyer and XRP advocate Bill Morgan explained that the post made several exaggerated claims. First, he clarified that Ripple does not own 43% of the XRP supply as the post suggested. According to CoinMarketCap data, about 58.5% of XRP is in circulation, excluding the amount Ripple holds in escrow.
Morgan also stated that Ripple's monthly sales from escrow account for only a small fraction of the total market volume and do not affect the price. In fact, evidence presented in the SEC lawsuit shows that Ripple has taken measures to support the price of XRP, such as locking a large amount of tokens in escrow to reduce market pressure.
He added that the SEC spent more than 18 months investigating Ripple before filing the lawsuit, and if there was any evidence of price manipulation, that evidence would be used in court. He argued that this makes claims of obstruction hard to believe.
To clarify the situation, Morgan stated that the price of XRP historically has followed the cryptocurrency market, moving in tandem with Bitcoin and Ethereum. This trend has remained consistent over the past four years, with few changes that could challenge that pattern.
