An argument has erupted within the XRP group round Ripple’s newly introduced $500 million increase at a $40 billion valuation.
Particularly, Unchained reported that some exterior enterprise capitalists imagine Ripple is price little past its XRP holdings. The criticism sparked a robust rebuttal from the XRP group.
TechCrunch founder and Arrington Capital chief Michael Arrington argued that the anti-Ripple narrative depends on “beautiful quantities of cognitive dissonance.”
VC Skepticism: Ripple Valuation “All Concerning the XRP”
For context, Unchained’s Laura Shin, citing editor Steven Ehrlich, shared feedback from a number of VCs who argued that Ripple’s valuation is primarily tied to its massive XRP reserves, not its know-how.
In keeping with the report, one distinguished enterprise capitalist stated, “Ripple will not be price something exterior of XRP holdings. Nobody makes use of their tech.”
One other added, “Ripple fairness will not be doubtless price very a lot by itself, actually not $40 billion.”
Moreover, nameless traders reportedly instructed Unchained that taking part companies could have been attracted by the chance to achieve oblique publicity to Ripple’s XRP holdings — probably at an implied low cost to identify costs — somewhat than betting on Ripple’s product success.
A former Ripple worker additionally famous that the spherical helps the corporate keep away from promoting XRP to fund acquisitions, preserves market confidence, and locks in the $40 billion valuation beforehand mirrored in secondary markets, resembling Carta.
The report framed Ripple as paradoxically “cash-poor” regardless of being one of many best-capitalized entities in crypto.
“Cognitive Dissonance” in Anti-Ripple Narrative
In the meantime, Michael Arrington pushed again on the VCs’ claims. Responding to Shin’s put up, Arrington wrote that the concept Ripple is efficacious solely due to its XRP holdings, paired with the view that XRP itself is nugatory, requires a unprecedented disconnect.
He careworn that dismissing each Ripple’s valuation and XRP’s relevance concurrently ignores the corporate’s real-world growth, institutional traction, and strategic alignment round a digital asset that is still central to its ecosystem.
Arrington prompt critics are downplaying the company of XRP holders and overlooking the tangible progress Ripple has made throughout key monetary and regulatory sectors.
These arguments that ripple is barely price their XRP holdings and subsequently is nugatory as a result of xrp is nugatory and all of the individuals who personal xrp have been duped and lack company requires pretty beautiful quantities of cognitive dissonance to drag off. https://t.co/qZ5V98BJtQ
— Michael Arrington 🏴☠️ (@arrington) November 6, 2025
Institutional Traders Are Betting on Ripple’s Bigger Imaginative and prescient
Apparently, the strain arises at a second when Ripple is present process its most aggressive growth ever. The corporate has accomplished six acquisitions in simply over two years, together with Hidden Street, GTreasury, Metaco, Palisade, and Rail.
Throughout this time, it has launched RLUSD, its USD-backed stablecoin, and entered institutional custody, treasury, brokerage, and liquidity markets. Ripple has additionally secured involvement with main fee networks resembling Mastercard.
The strategic traders within the spherical, together with Citadel Securities, Pantera Capital, Brevan Howard, Galaxy Digital, Fortress Funding Group, and Marshall Wace, declined to touch upon whether or not XRP holdings influenced their selections.
In the meantime, a supply shut to at least one participant instructed Unchained that these companies have already got long-standing enterprise relationships with Ripple. Accordingly, they’re backing a number of winners in a fast-evolving, regulated stablecoin financial system formed by the newly enacted GENIUS Act.
The supply added that even when Ripple’s product roadmap confronted challenges, the corporate’s large treasury would nonetheless enable it to “purchase one other firm” and preserve increasing.
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