Ripple Labās XRP (XRP) token holdings have dropped below 50% of the total circulating supply for the first time in the companyās history.
Ripple has faced criticism in the past by some that haveĀ raisedĀ questions over the firmās significantly large ownership of XRP, arguing that it gives the company centralized control over its XRP Ledger (XRPL).
In a Q3 report published on Oct. 27, Ripple once againĀ refutedĀ that criticism while also pointing out that its XRP holdings continue to decline, falling below 50 billion tokens, or 50% of the total supply.
āCritics have pointed to the companyās XRP ownership as an indicator that the XRP Ledger is controlled by Ripple. This is not true,ā Ripple stated, adding that:
āThe XRP Ledger (XRPL) uses Federated Byzantine Consensus to validate transactions, add new features, and secure the network, which means that each validator node gets one vote regardless of how much XRP they own.ā
The firm went on to state that it ācurrently operates 4 out of 130+ validator nodes on the XRPL.ā
Ripple disclosed in the report that its total net sales (sales minus purchases) of XRP for Q3 was down to $310.68 million compared with $408.9 million in Q2.
āRipple has continued to sell XRP only in connection with ODL transactions, and ODL volumes have ramped up as Rippleās ODL [On-Demand Liquidity] business expanded globally,ā the report reads.
One of Rippleās key business offerings is its cross-border payments service ODL, and the company outlined that it continued to expand the product in Q3 via a partnership with forex firm Travelex toĀ facilitate transactions between Brazil and Mexico.
SEC battle update
Ripple also commented on its lengthy legal dispute with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), afterĀ scoring a big winĀ relating to theĀ elusive William Hinman documentsĀ earlier this month.
The documents in question relate to a speech from former SEC division director Hinman in which he describes the regulatory status of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) in terms that may help Rippleās case, and contradict the SECās arguments:
āSince Hinmanās market moving speech, the SEC continues to deliberately create ambiguity, instead of providing clear guidance, and uses that ambiguity to bring enforcement actions to stifle crypto innovation in the United States.ā
āIn terms of next steps, in November, the SEC and Ripple will file reply briefs, and, from there, await the Judgeās decision on the motions,ā the report adds.
XRP is down 2.4% over the past 24 hours to sit at $0.46 at the time of writing but has gained 3.7% over the past week. Unlike a host of other major assets that hit new all-time highs last year, XRPās peak was almost five years ago at $3.40 on Jan. 7, 2018.