Ripple has transferred over 408 million XRP tokens to co-founder and ex-CTO Jed McCaleb as part of a formal agreement that was established years ago. McCaleb worked with Ripple in 2011, but soon left in 2013 to focus on a new project called Stellar XLM, that launched in 2014.
Ever since his exit, Ripple has been transferring significant amounts of the crypto, in batches, to McCaleb. He was awarded 9 billion XRP tokens for his role in developing and founding OpenCoin. The company later underwent the name change to Ripple-Labs.
According to xrpscan, McCaleb transferred out an estimated 453 million XRP in the month of May The transfer is part of a multi-year process that will see McCaleb slowly divest himself of his XRP holdings. McCaleb receives the funds on a fixed schedule and has made it clear via XRP Talk, a forum for XRP investors and proponents, that he plans on selling the funds he receives, as he has already donated part of the funds to charities such as Give Directly, Literacy Bridge, and others.
McCaleb’s large XRP sales continued even after the cryptocurrency ensured a major sell-off over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) lawsuit against Ripple Labs last year. The SEC has alleged Ripple and two of its executives “raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering.” It’s unclear which direction the case will go, but the time for selling is particularly ripe for the ex-CTO.
