The discussion began after a popular crypto commentator posted about Axelar’s plan to lock up $10 billion worth of XRP, a move that would remove around 5% of the token available to retail traders. Similarly, Flare Networks has set a goal of locking up 5 billion XRP. These two initiatives alone would place significant pressure on the pool of XRP available for active trading.
Particularly, Steingraber predicted that this number could fall drastically to as low as 21 million XRP, an amount symbolically identical to Bitcoin’s hard cap.
Aside from new institutional lockups, there are other clear signs that XRP’s active trading pool is thinning. A notable example is crypto exchange Coinbase, where XRP reserves have dropped sharply in recent months.
Adding to that, Ripple itself still controls a large portion of the total supply, with billions of the token locked in escrow. Although these tokens are technically part of circulation, they are unavailable for retail use and are released only under strict schedules.
The idea that XRP’s active trading supply could fall to just 21 million tokens shows how scarcity could alter its valuation. Based on today’s circulating supply of about 59 billion XRP and a market price of $2.89, XRP has a market capitalization of about $172.8 billion. If that same market capitalization were concentrated into only 21 million tokens, the implied price per coin would be about $8,120.
