Ripple’s post-SEC rebound is drawing Wall Street backing, including a $40 billion valuation deal with downside protection— and some investors betting on XRP. It has been a long and arduous journey for Ripple. After emerging from a multiyear battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the blockchain-based payments and infrastructure company is pressing ahead with broad ambitions to unify custody, treasury and prime-brokerage services, each underpinned by blockchain technology and stablecoins. Despite the bruising legal fight and the reputational damage that came with it, Ripple has still managed to win over some of Wall Street’s biggest players. This week’s Crypto Biz looks at how Ripple secured a striking $40 billion valuation, and why some of its backers are quietly placing bets on an XRP (XRP) surge. Read more
Ripple’s $500 million raise shows its post-SEC shift is working, as Wall Street piles in under a deal reportedly offering rare protections and guaranteed returns. Ripple’s $500 million raise in November marked a striking turn for a company once defined by its bruising, multiyear battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. As its legal challenges ease and Ripple pushes beyond cross-border payments toward a more ambitious crypto-native settlement stack, the company is repositioning itself in ways that are increasingly attracting major Wall Street investors. The round, which Cointelegraph reported valued Ripple at $40 billion, one of the highest valuations for a private company, drew an unusually heavy institutional roster. Investors included Citadel Securities, Fortress Investment Group and funds linked to Galaxy Digital, Pantera Capital and Brevan Howard. New details reported by Bloomberg also shed light on how Ripple secured that interest — namely, by offering investors a deal structured with signi...
Bitcoin might be moving sideways, but Jordi Visser says there is still faith in the underlying asset, as shown through ETF approvals and the Bitcoin network hashrate hitting new highs. Bitcoin is in an initial product offering (IPO) phase as OG holders rotate out and fresh blood scoops up the tokens, distributing the supply across a broader number of people, macro analyst and Wall Street old hand Jordi Visser says. In a Saturday episode of entrepreneur Anthony Pompliano’s podcast and a post on Substack, Visser said old coins that have been dormant for years are on the move, “Not all at once. Not in panic. But steadily,” and new investors are stepping in, “accumulating on dips.” “In the traditional world, this moment is called an IPO. It’s the moment when early believers cash out, when founders become wealthy, when venture capitalists return money to their limited partners,” he said. Read more
BitMine’s Tom Lee says that Ethereum will eventually flip Bitcoin’s market cap, despite being almost five times smaller currently. Ethereum could eventually surpass Bitcoin’s market share in a similar manner to how US equities overtook gold 54 years ago, when the US abandoned the gold standard, according to BitMine chair Tom Lee. “Ethereum could flip Bitcoin similar to how Wall Street and equities flipped gold post 71,” Lee said in an interview with ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood on Thursday. Bitcoin’s (BTC) market capitalization is about 4.6 times larger than Ethereum’s, standing at roughly $2.17 trillion compared to $476.33 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Read more
Grayscale’s spot crypto ETFs bring regulated staking yields to mainstream investors, merging crypto rewards with traditional Wall Street exposure. Grayscale has bridged traditional finance and decentralized crypto by launching the first publicly traded staking investment vehicle. Its staking-enabled ETPs allow investors to earn blockchain rewards without running validator nodes or managing complex technical and custody risks. Grayscale’s Ether and Solana ETPs are the first in the US to combine spot crypto exposure with staking rewards, paying yields through the fund’s NAV or direct payouts. Read more