Ripple has released another 1 billion XRP tokens from its on-ledger escrow, drawing fresh attention to an ongoing debate over the respective roles of XRP and RLUSD, the company's US dollar-backed stablecoin.

According to blockchain data, the latest unlock under Ripple's monthly escrow feature was carried out in two separate transactions, with each transaction worth $626.43 million. A major portion of the unlocked supply was subsequently relocked, in line with the company's established practice for its monthly releases. These monthly unlocks are among the most closely followed supply events for XRP, since they determine how much of Ripple's original holdings can potentially move into circulation.

How Ripple's Escrow System Works

Ripple placed 55 billion XRP into a series of on-ledger escrow contracts on the XRP Ledger in December 2017, putting a large share of its token holdings on a predictable release schedule. The contracts make up to 1 billion XRP available at the start of each month. Historically, Ripple has re-locked most of each monthly unlock into new escrow contracts, meaning only a fraction of the released tokens typically enters direct circulation. Because the escrow sits on the ledger itself, each release and relock is publicly traceable, giving the market a transparent timetable for Ripple-linked supply.

The XRP vs. RLUSD Discussion

The latest release arrives amid renewed discussion about how XRP and RLUSD fit into Ripple's broader payments strategy. XRP is the native digital asset of the XRP Ledger and is used to pay transaction fees and to serve as a bridge currency for cross-currency transfers on the network. RLUSD, which received approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), is issued on both the XRP Ledger and Ethereum and is designed to maintain a 1:1 peg with the US dollar for payments use cases.

The debate concerns the relationship between the two assets rather than any single announcement. On the XRP Ledger, XRP functions as the connecting asset for cross-currency transactions, including transfers involving RLUSD. As structured, the two are designed to play complementary roles: RLUSD carries dollar-denominated value for payments, while XRP settles fees and bridges between currencies on the ledger. With up to 1 billion XRP scheduled to become available at the start of each month, Ripple's relock pattern in coming cycles will show how much of each release actually reaches circulation.

The report was originally published by Coingape.