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- XRP investors urge Ripple to burn escrow after its $750M share buyback, hoping reduced supply could boost price and restore market confidence.
- Ripple’s Schwartz notes Stellar’s 50% burn barely moved price, as XRP ETFs log two weeks of outflows and investor demand weakens.
XRP trading activity has slowed in recent weeks as market participation has declined, igniting renewed discussion among investors about the digital asset’s supply. Some members of the community have suggested that Ripple should burn the tokens it holds in escrow, a proposal that caught the attention of David Schwartz, Ripple’s former CTO.
Recent market data indicates that trading activity has dropped since the end of February. Weekly XRP trading volume fell from about $22.9 billion in the final week of February to $16.6 billion the following week, nearly a 25% decline during that period.
🚨LATEST: DAVID SCHWARTZ DEFENDS RIPPLE XRP SALES AMID FRESH CRITICISM
Ripple CTO, David Schwartz (@JoelKatz), has responded to renewed criticism over how @Ripple sells $XRP.
The exchange began after comments by crypto commentator Zach Rynes (@ChainLinkGod).
Rynes questioned… pic.twitter.com/gSEVD0BwEz
— BSCN (@BSCNews) March 16, 2026
Meanwhile, spot exchange-traded funds tied to XRP continue to record capital withdrawals. The funds posted net outflows for two consecutive weeks. For the week ending March 13, withdrawals hit $28.07 million.
Price movements for XRP have aligned with broader market trends during this period despite Ripple announcing new partnerships and pursuing new operational approvals.
Ripple CTO Responds to XRP Escrow Burn Proposals
Discussion around token supply grew after a community member proposed that Ripple destroy the XRP it still holds in escrow. The comment followed the company’s announcement of a $750 million share buyback, as we had previously reported. Some investors claim that eliminating the tokens from circulation could reduce the overall supply and influence prices.
In his response, Schwartz cited a previous incident where the Stellar Development Foundation burned approximately 55 billion XLM coins, half of the asset’s supply at the time, in November 2019.
The burn had minimal effect on the price of the token, market data shows. At the time of the announcement, XLM traded near $0.065. Within a month, the price had fallen to around $0.045. Over the same period, XRP declined from about $0.295 to roughly $0.19 as the broader market weakened.
As Schwartz noted, Stellar proved that reducing supply does not always sway the price momentum. He also shared a chart comparing the two assets over time, claiming that observers could not identify the moment when the burn occurred as the price effect was minimal.
The discussion about Ripple’s escrow system has been around for years. The company placed 55 billion XRP in escrow in 2017 to control distribution. On-chain data shows that 33.6 billion tokens remain locked. 1 billion XRP is released each month, but the company usually sells 200 million tokens and relocks the remaining amount.
Meanwhile, RLUSD ranked second on the list of the most-donated digital assets in 2025, while XRP ranked seventh. CNF reported that digital asset donations passed $100 million for the year, with Ripple-linked assets gaining wider use in nonprofit fundraising.
