Ripple Becomes C1 Fund’s Largest Private Crypto Holding
Ripple became C1 Fund’s largest private-company holding in the second quarter of 2026, accounting for 17.5% of the fund’s net assets as of June 30. The position was worth approximately $7.46 million, narrowly exceeding Payward, Kraken’s parent company, at 16.9%, or about $7.20 million.
C1 Fund held $33.07 million in private digital asset investments across 11 companies, representing 77.5% of its $42.63 million in net assets. Its portfolio also included BitGo, Blockchain.com, Chainalysis, ConsenSys, Fireblocks, Polymarket’s parent company Blockratize and Uphold.
The fund said a partial issuer buyback of 1,407 Ripple Series A preferred shares generated an approximately 150% return in less than four months. C1 Fund retained substantial Ripple equity after the transaction. This exposure represents private-company shares, not XRP. XRP holders have no ownership claim on Ripple’s revenue, assets or dividends.
C1 Fund’s shares traded around $2.85 at the end of August, more than 50% below its reported net asset value of $6.49 per share. The fund repurchased 249,300 of its own shares for $824,440 through July under a programme authorised for up to $3 million.
Potential IPOs by Kraken and Blockchain.com could create future liquidity for C1 Fund, while Ripple has not announced plans to go public. For crypto traders, the Ripple holding is a private-market valuation signal rather than a direct XRP price catalyst.
Neutral
The expected market impact is neutral because the news concerns Ripple’s private-company equity, not XRP itself. Ripple becoming C1 Fund’s largest holding and achieving a reported 150% return in a partial buyback may improve sentiment around Ripple’s institutional valuation. However, private shares do not trade continuously, and the transaction does not create direct buying demand for XRP or change XRP’s supply, network usage or cash flows.
In the short term, traders may treat the disclosure as a modest confidence signal for Ripple and potentially XRP, especially if it reinforces expectations of institutional interest or future corporate developments. Social-media discussion could produce brief speculative volatility. The effect is likely to remain limited because the position is relatively small in the broader digital-asset market and the valuation is based on private-market fair-value methods.
Over the longer term, an IPO, issuer buyback or secondary-market transaction could provide a clearer valuation benchmark for Ripple. Kraken or Blockchain.com listings could also improve liquidity for related private holdings. Similar disclosures of private crypto-equity valuations have generally influenced sentiment more than spot-token fundamentals. Traders should therefore distinguish Ripple equity from XRP and monitor XRP-specific indicators, including exchange flows, derivatives funding, open interest, regulatory developments and on-chain activity.