- Ripple reportedly offered to buy $1 billion in shares at a $40 billion valuation.
- It saw the lowest participation rate compared to previous tender offers.
- Private crypto valuations are soaring amid public market euphoria.
Ripple Labs tried to buy back $1 billion worth of shares from employees and investors in September but came up empty-handed, The Information reported on October 31.
The company offered to purchase shares at a price that values the company at $40 billion — a sizable uptick from a $28 billion valuation it achieved in June, according to an investor letter seen by The Information.
But Ripple ran into the lowest participation rate compared to previous tender offer rounds, The Information reported, suggesting that those who already hold shares in promising companies will not let go of them.
Ripple didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Yet its surging valuations highlight how the public market frenzy among crypto companies is continuing.
Not only have several companies gone public to the tune of multi-billion valuations, but analysts are expecting bigger booms to follow — even as cryptocurrency prices wobble this week.
What’s behind the boom? Donald Trump.
Since the president took office, Trump has shepherded key changes to supercharge the crypto industry.
The Securities and Exchange Commission — now headed by crypto ally Paul Atkins — has dropped enforcement actions, lawmakers have approved the Genius Act and is still debating the Clarity Act, while institutional adoption has galloped forward.
Shareholders betting on higher valuations aren’t just wagering on Ripple, however. They’re betting Trump’s crypto-friendly administration will sustain the rally and fuel even more blockbuster initial public offerings.
Blockbuster listings
Several major crypto companies already went public in 2025, setting the stage for the current valuation frenzy.
Off the back of its focus on regulatory compliance, Circle enjoyed this year’s first blockbuster crypto IPO in June. When the company listed its share prices at $31, investors ploughed in. In just seven days, the stocks soared 93% from its opening price in the first week, and 300% from its listing price.
Today the stock trades at $117, giving it a $27 billion market cap.
That performance incentivised private market investors that crypto IPOs offer massive upside, fuelling aggressive bidding for pre-IPO stakes.
But one firm’s froth is another one’s fizzle.
Bullish, a crypto exchange, followed with a $37 IPO that jumped 83% to $68 on its debut. It has since cooled to $50. Gemini, the exchange built up by the Winklevoss twins, went public at $28 but now trades below its offering price of $18.
The mixed results haven’t dampened enthusiasm, however. Investors are still chasing stakes in pre-IPO companies like Kraken, Polymarket, and BitGo, betting they’ll replicate Circle’s success.
The IPO rush
Ripple isn’t the only company seemingly watching its valuation surge.
Kraken, one of the longest-running crypto exchanges, is raising money at a $20 billion valuation, a person familiar with the matter told The Information. It achieved a $15 billion valuation in March as it raised money to acquire NinjaTrade, a retail futures trading platform.
While many in the industry anticipate that Kraken is heading for a 2026 IPO, Kraken’s co-CEO Arjun Sethi told DL News in September that the exchange is in no rush to go public.
“If we were a part of what I call the pack of companies that have FOMO to go public, then we would have already filed,” he told DL News.
Polymarket, the prediction platform that has exploded in popularity this year, raised $2 billion at about a $9 billion pre-money valuation this summer.
Pedro Solimano is DL News’ Buenos Aires-based markets correspondent. Got a tip? Email him at psolimano@dlnews.com.