Is XRP going away? A recent debate between market analyst Jake Claver and other industry analysts has put the digital asset back in the spotlight, predicting an impending asset shortage. As structural parameters meet the growing demand, experts warn of a “sell-off” situation that could fundamentally redefine the dynamics of the token market.
The Escrow Trap and the reality of XRP Supply Shock
The essence of “sales” claim. lies in the technical architecture of XRP Ledger Exchange system. Posted on January 14, 2026, Claver he explained that Ripple’s monthly issuance is hard-coded into the protocol, meaning the company cannot inject additional tokens into the market during a currency crisis. Although this device was designed to provide predictability and limit manipulation, it creates a double effect. In an area of high demand, supply is effectively inelastic.
This structure is particularly important when viewed against current supply figures. XRP has a hard cap of 100 billion tokens. About 60.7 billion XRP are already in existence, leaving about 39.3 billion out of active markets. At a price close to $2.10, the circulating supply translates to a market capitalization of more than $127 billion, while the fully diluted value sits near $210 billion.
These statistics show that almost 40% of the total amount of XRP is not on the table and cannot be accessed to meet the immediate demand. If a a large institution tried to buy XRP worth 10 billion dollars, Ripple could not open the escrow in time to give money because the book prevents the release of more than the 1-billion monthly token cap. So any sudden increase in buying pressure cannot be met by new supply. This intensity increases the risk a great shock of supplyat a price that acts as the only pressure valve under this bottleneck system.
Institutional Accumulation Pushes to Liquidity Cliff
The discussion got heated when a user known as RemiRelief answered for Claver, it’s sounding the alarm that XRP is “at risk of a complete sell-off.” RemiRelief argued that it was too little the remaining liquid in the trade and predicted a “strange” situation if investors start moving their assets to private storage. The post points directly to the potential entry of BlackRock as a catalyst that would remove the remaining “low-hanging fruit” from the market.
The current performance of the XRP ETF supports this “always buy” narrative. Since the beginning of 2026, XRP ETFs have seen large, consistent net penetration-grossing over $1.37 billion in one week. Every dollar that flows into an ETF represents XRP is released on the public market and locked in the institution’s vaults.
RemiRelief’s claim stems from this conflict: institutional giants they buy tokens immediately, while the “escrow trap” described by Claver prevents any new supply from entering the market to balance. Without indicating an upcoming sale, this argument emphasizes that the window to get XRP at “low” prices is closing fast.
The featured image was created with Dall.E, a chart from Tradingview.com
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