Ripple is valued at 40 billion and raises 500 million USD. What exactly did investors get?

Ripple Labs recently completed a $500 million financing at a valuation of $40 billion, with investors spanning both TradFi and encryption giants. However, industry insiders point out that what investors may be buying is not Ripple's technology and business, but the discounted XRP Token. This fundraising effort reveals Ripple's operating strategy of being “the richest on paper but with the least cash.”

From Payment Empire to Asset Vault: The Valuation Controversy of Ripple

Ripple Labs announced that it has just completed a $500 million financing led by Fortress Investment and Citadel Securities, with participation from well-known institutions such as Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Brevan Howard, and Marshall Wace, bringing the valuation of this blockchain payment company to an astounding $40 billion.

At the same time, the company has been quite active recently, including the acquisition of the custody platform Palisade, the bank broker Hidden Road, the stablecoin infrastructure Rail, and the launch of its own stablecoin RLUSD, with a circulation exceeding 1 billion USD.

In addition, Ripple expects to receive approval for the XRP spot ETF next week and is applying for a banking license from the OCC (.

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Messari data: XRP Ledger quarterly transaction fees are approximately $170,000 to $1.11 million, showing significant volatility.

However, even so, the transaction activity on the Ripple mainnet remains extremely limited, with monthly fee revenue of less than $200,000. Unchained questions this: “How does the company's valuation reach $40 billion when no one is using Ripple technology?”

XRP Vault: $80 billion of paper wealth

Reports cite informed sources indicating that Ripple's asset structure is at the core of the controversy. The company was allocated 80% of the total supply of XRP in its early years, amounting to )800 billion coins (, and currently still holds approximately 34.76 billion XRP, unlocking 1 billion each month and then locking back 60-70%.

XRP Token distribution details

At the current price of $2.32, the book value of this batch of Tokens exceeds $80.6 billion. This means Ripple is one of the richest companies in the entire encryption field, but at the same time, it is also the most cash-strapped.

Several well-known venture capitalists stated: “This company has no value aside from a bunch of XRP. No one is using their technology, and there is no usage on the blockchain.”

Investing in Ripple is equivalent to investing in the “private version of XRP DAT”?

An investor revealed that today’s investment feels more like buying XRP at a discount: Ripple's total asset nominally amounts to about $80 billion, while the financing valuation is only $40 billion, which means investors are acquiring its tokens at half price, with a net asset value multiple of )mNAV( being only 0.5, making it a profitable deal.

Even assuming that Ripple cannot sell XRP at market price and needs to liquidate at a 50% discount, it is essentially an investment with a valuation of mNAV equal to 1, which still holds appeal for betting on Ripple, a company similar to “encryption reserve company )DAT(.”

For those investors, this financing is more like investing in a “private DAT.”

)Ripple fundraising 1 billion USD to push XRP DAT, smashing 1 billion USD to buy GTreasury to seize the cash flow market (

Investors' double bet: acquiring machines and XRP price increase

Although all investors have declined to respond to the importance of Ripple XRP holdings in valuation, a person familiar with mergers and acquisitions revealed that these investment institutions have long had collaborations with Ripple:

Especially after the passage of the GENIUS Act in the United States, the payment and stablecoin markets have become hot tracks, and investors are looking to place multiple bets on potential winners.

He candidly stated: “Even if Ripple cannot make it on its own, it has the money to acquire others.”

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The true purpose of Ripple's financing: to solidify valuation while being able to exchange for cash.

A former employee pointed out that the strategic value of this round of financing lies not in the cash amount, but in consolidating Ripple's $40 billion valuation in markets like Carta, while ensuring the liquidity of its Token.

The new round of financing allows the company to continue its acquisitions and expansions with cash, without having to sell XRP, thus avoiding market panic.

As reported: “Ripple may be the richest company in the entire encryption industry, yet it is the most cash-strapped.”

This article discusses Ripple's valuation of $40 billion and the $500 million fundraising. What exactly did investors buy? Originally appeared in Chain News ABMedia.