Ripple has transferred over 408 million XRP tokens to co-founder and ex-CTO Jed McCaleb as part of a formal agreement that was established years ago.
Ripple co-founder and former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Jed McCaleb was given $420 million worth of XRP by Ripple, as a part of a deal made a few years ago.
The transfer is part of a multi-year process that will see McCaleb slowly divest himself of his XRP holdings.
When McCaleb left Ripple, he had signed a deal to not offload all of his XRP holdings immediately. This was to ensure that the selling would not affect the XRP market. The current transfer is part of a deal where Ripple transfers an amount of XRP to McCaleb on a monthly basis.
The selling pattern has changed over time. Currently, McCaleb sets aside a portion to sell every week and sells them over seven days. In the past week, he sold nearly $17 million. He has about $652 million left to sell in total.
During the whole of 2020, McCaleb sold a whopping $400 million worth of XRP, one of the most significant amounts to date. This was because XRP’s price has been trending upwards, making McCaleb one of the richest people in crypto. He is believed to have over $2 billion in net worth.
McCaleb left Ripple in 2014 and went on to create Stellar Lumens. Had McCaleb not been made to sell his XRP holdings over time, he would not be anywhere near as wealthy as he is today. He is believed to have sold 1.2 billion XRP since 2014 and holds about 2.5 billion tokens currently.
McCaleb is selling the asset at a time when Ripple is facing a lawsuit from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over alleged securities violations. It’s unclear which direction the case will go, but the time for selling is particularly ripe for the ex-CTO.
Lawsuit still proceeding, with one positive development for Ripple
Ripple’s lawsuit over alleged securities violations has been the talk of the town. The SEC alleges that it unlawfully made $1.3 billion through an unregistered securities offering. Ripple has firmly denied all allegations and is strongly fighting the case.
The firm recently won a motion to prevent the SEC from accessing documents on the basis of attorney-client privilege. The lawsuit continues to go on, with the crypto market hotly anticipating a decision. The XRP token does not seem to have been greatly affected by the ongoing development, reaching strong price points in recent months.
CEO Brad Garlinghouse has even hinted that the public may go public at some point. This is currently being prevented by the ongoing case, which is set to see a conclusion very soon.