Exactly 1 billion XRP tokens were unlocked from escrow accounts on the first day of the year. While such occurrences are considered commonplace and usual for many in the XRP community, this time it was not without surprises. If previously XRP was unlocked directly from Ripple escrows, this time, according to Whale Alert, it happened in unknown accounts.

Ripple's former director of developer relations, Matt Hamilton, has revealed some details about upcoming innovations to XRP Ledger. In particular, Hamilton said that the blockchain will soon feature smart contracts, which are currently in development.

According to Whale Alert, roughly 20 hours ago, it detected Ripple Labs moving one billion XRP coins that were shifted from escrow on Sunday, Jan. 1. The majority of it was sent back to escrow an hour later. Regular XRP withdrawals from escrow As U.Today reported, three days ago, as 2023 started, Ripple conducted its traditional programmed withdrawal of a staggering billion XRP from one of its escrow accounts. These releases of XRP started five years ago, when the blockchain giant decided to support the liquidity of XRP tokens on the crypto market and began sending part of this monthly released billion to crypto exchanges, banks and payment operators that partnered with Ripple. Part of this billion was also likely sold by the company to cover its operational expenses.

As the SEC vs Ripple case extends into the new year, XRP supporters are on the lookout for any edge Ripple could have over the SEC in hopes that it might strengthen Ripple’s chances of winning the case.

The token of Ripple Labs, XRP reaches the highest levels in three months

As the legal battle between Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approaches its final deadlines before Judge Analisa Torres is set to deliver her verdict, American journalist Charles Gasparino made an allegation that the fintech company could not let go unanswered. Gasparino raised the question of why the SEC focused on Ripple while it let Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX have their way.

In recent days, a heated discussion has arisen between prominent journalist and Fox Business host Charles Gasparino and the Ripple / XRP community. Gasparino voiced that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had legitimate reasons why they targeted and sued Ripple prior to FTX.

SEC’s request to seal documents in the Ripple Labs case has sparked criticism from the community.

The argument between Ripple CTO David Schwartz and Craig Wright continues over Twitter. The self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator recently questioned XRP’s performance and utility in a string of tweets.

Wrapped XRP (wXRP) is a crypto asset pegged to XRP (XRP) and can be used on blockchains other than Ripple’s native XRP Ledger. Ripple is a blockchain-based global payments system providing crypto solutions for businesses, and XRP is the native currency of the Ripple network. Identical in value, its wrapped version, wXRP, can be used in financial payments and settlements on other blockchains.

Ripple CTO David Schwartz believes that the sluggish performance of XRP and other major cryptocurrencies is a result of uncertainty as to whether or not crypto will actually be the next big thing. Using Google in 2000 as an example, Schwartz compares how people may have been skeptical then about how the search engine was going to deliver billions of dollars worth of new wealth, but some became true believers and made millions. He believes that crypto is in a similar situation as of now.

Ripple CTO David Schwartz seems not to be so pleased with the Flare governance proposal (FIP01) which, if passed, would consist of a set of changes that would impact the distribution and inflation of the Flare blockchain's native token.

According to a recent tweet by prominent blockchain tracker Whale Alert, over the past 13 hours, an astounding amount of Ripple-affiliated XRP tokens has been replaced in pretty large chunks of crypto. Among the senders was leading blockchain platform Ripple Labs. In total, nearly half a billion coins have been moved. As for the price of XRP, it has shown a slight rise over the past 24 hours, going up by more than 4%. Transfer of 480 million XRP spotted, Ripple among senders The aforementioned platform that traces large transfers of digital currencies spread the word about nearly half a billion of cumulative XRP transfers detected by it. The two biggest chunks out of six here carried a whopping 214,000,000 XRP worth $73,525,151 USD, and 100,000,000 XRP evaluated at $34,004,188 USD. The former was shifted by Binance trading giant between its internal wallets.

“Bitcoin cannot ever be adopted by institutional investors until the system is able to be recovered under a legal court order.”

The federal judge in the ongoing lawsuit between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs Inc. has granted a joint motion from all parties to extend the deadline for the Daubert Motions that would exclude certain expert testimonies.

MoneyGram International has launched a new remittance service in Brazil through a new partnership with Frente Correta, one of the main partners of fintech firm Ripple in the country. The new service was positively met by the $XRP community.

XRP News: David Schwartz, Ripple CTO and Craig Wright, self proclaimed Bitcoin creator got into a war of words over BTC adoption by institutional investors. However, this heated conversation took a wrong turn toward the XRP token and its utility.

The value of Ripple’s cross-border settlement cryptocurrency, XRP, has been on an absolute roller coaster since the start of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) vs. Ripple litigation in December 2020. Additionally, this year’s turmoil in the cryptocurrency market has finally improved the chances for the XRP token in 2023.

The former principal developer advocate at San Francisco-based payments firm Ripple is revealing that a key functionality is coming to the XRP Ledger (XRPL).

Ripple noted that fiat-based RippleNet customers are upgrading to ODL in Australia, Brazil, Singapore, the UAE, the UK, and the US.