Experts have begun speculating why the company's XRP escrow holdings were not included in the recent Ripple funding round that pushed Ripple's valuation to $40 billion.
Ripple is valued at $40 billion
For context, early last month, Ripple announced The secondary market shares will be sold for $500 million, valuing the company at $40 billion. This was the highest valuation for a privately held cryptocurrency company.
Notably, the round, led by investors including Citadel Securities and Fortress Investment Group, was realized as a stock sale of $175 per share, 135% above the historical secondary market price of approximately $74 per share.
Meanwhile, the latest report from Bloomberg confirms that the deal terms will allow early investors and new participants to secure profits through share buyback protection. Specifically, shareholders will be able to sell their shares back to Ripple after three to four years with a guaranteed 10% annual return, unless an IPO occurs by then.
XRP Escrow
Interestingly, in the 2024 report, helicopter helpRipple, a major global investment bank, has tied Ripple's valuation directly to the XRP price because it owns a large amount of XRP. Their valuation model was heavily influenced by XRP price scenarios that determined the value of Ripple's XRP holdings in each case.
However, XRP community figures point out that Ripple's latest $40 billion does not take into account the company's large XRP stack, which is currently worth nearly $80 billion at XRP's current price of $2.06. Digital Asset Investors (DAI) spoke about this. asked a question Why does Ripple's valuation not include the company's XRP holdings?
In response, Brad Kimes of Digital Perspectives suggested: this This may be because Ripple is not solely owned by Entire XRP balance within escrow. He pointed out that escrow puts assets into the hands of a neutral third party and Ripple transfers them. simply Manage the process.
Great question. Probably because XRP escrow does not belong only to Ripple.
Escrow, by definition, is a third party that holds funds in a neutral account.
Ripple is an escrow administrator, just as a title company does not own the property you purchase from a seller… https://t.co/WyLOCKiSfY— Digital Perspectives (@DigPerspectives) December 8, 2025
Kimes likened this to how title companies handle real estate transfers without owning the property itself. He said that because of this setup, Ripple maintains escrow. XRP Some of these funds are taken off the books because they belong to other parties rather than the company. However, as Ripple has confirmed, this is still highly speculative.
The closest a Ripple executive came to suggesting something similar was CTO David Schwartz Answered questions about Ripple What you can do You can clear the escrow at any time. Specifically, Schwartz confirmed that Ripple may indeed sell the rights to the tokens in escrow to another entity.
