XRP Supply Explained: Total, Circulating, Escrow, OTC & True Liquid Float (No More Confusion)

If you’ve been around XRP long enough you’ve probably heard 20 different answers for how much supply actually exists, how much Ripple controls, what’s locked in escrow, and how much is actually circulating. This post clears that up once and for all—and explains why the real liquid float is dramatically smaller than what most people think.

The Basics: XRP Has a Fixed 100 Billion Cap

XRP has no mining and no inflation curve. All 100,000,000,000 XRP were created at launch and the protocol does not allow additional tokens to be minted. Over time, tiny fees are burned with each transaction. Because of that, the total supply today is slightly below 100 billion (~99.985B) and keeps shrinking very slowly.

Max supply: 100,000,000,000
Total current supply: ~99.985B
Burned: ~13–14 million so far

Supply cannot increase—only decrease over time.

Circulating Supply vs Total Supply

Most data sites say there’s about ~60.3B XRP circulating. That simply means it’s not locked in escrow or clearly sitting in Ripple treasury wallets. It does NOT mean 60B XRP is available for buying on exchanges.

Circulating supply includes:

• active wallets
• dormant wallets
• lost keys
• cold storage
• institutional holdings
• ODL working capital
• ETFs/ETPs
• market maker inventory

Most of that will never hit public order books.

Ripple Escrow Explained

Back in 2017, Ripple locked 55B XRP into cryptographically verifiable on-ledger escrows releasing up to 1B per month. The network enforces this schedule—Ripple cannot unlock more than what is programmed.

Typical monthly pattern:

• 1B unlock
• 200–300M used for ODL/utility
• 700–800M re-locked into new escrows

That’s why years later, there are still around ~38–40.5B XRP locked and gradually releasing.

Key idea: Escrow is a throttle—it smooths supply and prevents surprise dumping.

Ripple’s Holdings Are Shrinking

Ripple once held the majority of the supply. That’s no longer true. Over several years Ripple has:

• used XRP for ODL corridors
• sold OTC to institutions
• supported market liquidity
• sometimes bought back XRP

Ripple’s effective ownership continues trending downward over time while institutional and infrastructure players take permanent positions.

So How Much XRP Is Actually Liquid?

This is the part nobody understands. “Circulating” does NOT mean “liquid.”

The roughly 60B circulating XRP includes:

• lost coins
• dormant whale wallets
• institutional custody
• ODL liquidity pools
• market maker inventories
• ETF custodial balances
• corporate treasury holdings

All of that XRP is technically circulating—but not realistically available to trade.

The real liquid float might be under 10–15B XRP. Some analysts think it’s already in single-digit billions as ETFs and ODL expand.

This is why supply shock is a real thesis: demand is fighting over a tiny liquid pool, not 60B coins.

OTC Supply Explained (No, It’s Not “Extra” XRP)

OTC sales simply move existing coins from one party to another—usually large institutional buyers buying directly from Ripple, market makers, or escrow releases.

OTC coins ultimately come from:

• escrow releases
• Ripple treasury
• secondary market purchasing

There is no “secret” supply. OTC just removes XRP from open markets without pushing up exchange prices while institutions accumulate.

So OTC reduces visible liquidity instead of increasing it.

What the Ripple vs SEC Ruling Actually Said About OTC

The SEC tried to argue Ripple sold securities. The judge separated three categories:

• XRP itself is NOT a security
• Programmatic sales to retail were NOT securities
• Certain older institutional OTC agreements were evaluated differently

This distinction matters because retail buying was never considered investing in securities—and the SEC failed to classify XRP itself as a security.

After the ruling, Ripple changed how OTC allocation works:

• no automatic discounts
• no promotional tie-ins
• ODL-focused utility rather than investment structure

Translation:

Ripple can legally sell XRP as an asset, and retail buying was never a securities transaction.

Lost Keys, Burned Coins & Dormant Wallets = Silent Deflation

Billions of XRP have not moved in years. Some wallets are provably inactive since genesis. Some wallets are lost forever just like Bitcoin. XRPL explorers show long-term dormancy, but nobody can fully quantify how many keys are lost.

Those coins are effectively removed from supply forever, even if technically counted in circulating supply.

That’s invisible deflation—and it grows every single year.

The Real Story: Liquidity Is Disappearing While Demand Rises

Combine everything:

• escrow locking
• Ripple holdings shrinking
• OTC accumulation
• institutional cold storage
• ETF vaults
• ODL settlement loops
• dormant & lost wallets

…and suddenly the idea of 60B liquid XRP becomes a complete illusion.

The effective float is tiny—and shrinking. Meanwhile:

• ETFs are going live
• ODL corridors are expanding
• corporate treasuries are adopting XRP
• enterprise payments are scaling globally

That’s a setup for one thing: supply shock.

The Bottom Line

XRP doesn’t need more coins. It needs demand—and that’s exactly what’s arriving: ETFs, ODL, remittances, banks, corporate treasury usage, tokenization settlement, and now government-level infrastructure.

There is one fixed pie. And a shrinking slice of that pie is actually liquid. When global institutional flows collide with a tiny available float, basic supply and demand does the rest.

XRP is designed for a world where liquidity becomes utility—and utility forces scarcity.