Ripple Labs has re-locked 700 million XRP into escrow after releasing 1 billion tokens from its escrow account in April 2026. The company returned the tokens in two tranches of 500 million and 200 million on April 1, temporarily making $945 million worth of XRP inaccessible. Despite this, Ripple increased the circulating supply by 300 million XRP, valued at approximately $384 million. As of April 2, the total amount in escrow stood at around 33.344 billion XRP, while the circulating supply reached approximately 66.626 billion, according to XRPSCAN. This activity follows a similar pattern to the first quarter of 2026, where Ripple released 900 million tokens. The price of XRP has been affected by these actions, dropping over 4% in the past 24 hours to trade around $1.30. David Schwartz, a founding member of the XRP Ledger, defended Ripple's strategy, emphasizing the importance of monthly sales from the escrow account for the company's profitability. Schwartz noted that while the relationship between Ripple and the XRP Ledger is beneficial, it may not be as lucrative for other companies using its payment products.