XRP community figures have highlighted statements by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse suggesting that no one can manipulate XRP’s price.
This comes as XRP faced fresh selling pressure over the past day, briefly dropping to $1.77, its lowest level this month. While the price has since recovered to around $1.86, it remains down 8% over the past week and 13% over the past month.
Against this backdrop, comments from Ripple’s leadership have resurfaced, countering long-standing claims that XRP’s price can be easily controlled.
Community Figure Reshares Garlinghouse’s CNN Comments
Amid the sell-off, Brad Kimes, creator of Digital Perspectives and founder of XRPLasVegas, weighed in on social media. He stated that while markets may be down, Ripple’s long-term strategy remains intact, highlighting that preallocated option contracts have been a core part of Ripple’s business model for years.
Kimes also reshared a past CNN interview with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, in which he noted: “Nobody is in a position to manipulate XRP prices.”
Ripple Cannot Control XRP Price
In the interview, Garlinghouse directly addressed the idea that Ripple or the XRP community could influence the token’s price.
He explained that XRP shows a high correlation with the overall crypto market, similar to other major digital assets. According to him, Ripple has no more control over XRP’s price than Bitcoin whales have over BTC.
While smaller, low-liquidity tokens may be vulnerable to manipulation, Garlinghouse stressed that XRP trades in billions of dollars in daily volume, making such control unrealistic. From his perspective, XRP’s scale and liquidity place it beyond the reach of any single entity attempting to dictate price movements.
Institutional Sales, Lockups, and Escrow Explained
Garlinghouse also addressed questions around how Ripple works with financial institutions. Using MoneyGram as an example, he clarified that institutions buy XRP at market prices, not through special discounted deals.
He acknowledged that, in some cases, large institutional purchases may involve lockup agreements. These restrictions prevent sudden sell-offs and are tied to market volume, ensuring stability rather than disruption.
Regarding Ripple’s own holdings, Garlinghouse reiterated that accusations of the company “dumping” XRP do not align with its interests. He stressed that Ripple has placed the majority of its XRP in escrow to limit its ability to freely access or sell those tokens and emphasizing its commitment to a healthy ecosystem.
In his words:
“Yes, Ripple owns a lot of XRP. We’re very interested in the success of XRP, but the accusations that we are dumping it are not in our best interest.”
Notably, Ripple holds 34.4 billion XRP in escrow, according to Ripple’s API, and 5.095 billion XRP in spendable wallets. The company releases 1 billion XRP from escrow each month but only retains around 200 million tokens, sending the unused XRP back to escrow.
