Mayukha Vadari, senior software engineer at RippleX, has noted that blockchain company Ripple does not technically hold the 38 million XRP in escrow.
In this case, the XRP Ledger itself acts as the escrow agent since the funds are locked in smart contracts.
“Technically (and legally), the escrow funds are temporarily being held by the network, not Ripple,” Vadari explained.
It is worth noting that Ripple cannot access these funds before the unlock time. Hence, the tokens are under the management of the escrow agent.
This echoes an earlier statement made by Ripple CTO David Schwartz, who clarified that the funds in an escrow are not held by the party who put them into escrow.
Earlier this year, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that the company owned more than $100 billion worth of XRP tokens. However, ownership does not equal control in this case.
In its now-discontinued quarterly markets report, Ripple distinguishes between the tokens that the company itself holds and the tokens that are locked in escrow. According to its last report, Ripple held roughly 4.9 billion tokens while 38 billion tokens remained locked in escrow on the XRP Ledger.
The company initially locked 55 billion XRP into escrow to assuage concerns about potential selling pressure stemming from tokens flooding the market.