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- Ripple’s private equity and limited liquidity, with most XRP held in escrow, allow such discounted secondary market transactions.
- VivoPower completed two months of due diligence before announcing the acquisition, capitalizing on Ripple’s structured private equity market.
Ripple’s private equity is drawing unusual attention from an unlikely source. Nasdaq-listed VivoPower is seeking to acquire a share of Ripple stock in the secondary markets, touting it as a discounted entry into the huge XRP collection of the firm.
The company is getting exposure to Ripple’s XRP at a staggering discount of 86%. VivoPower executives recently opened up on the factors they considered for this deal.
What’s Up With VivoPower, Ripple & XRP?
Though Ripple is not the direct seller of the shares, the London-based sustainable energy company announced earlier this month that it agreed to purchase 100 million Ripple equity shares. That deal values the blockchain payments operator at about $19 billion.
VivoPower notes that the transaction will equate to XRP exposure at a small fraction of the spot price. “Without considering the value of Ripple’s business or RLUSD stablecoin, VivoPower said the deal would effectively give it exposure to XRP at an 86% discount compared to the cryptocurrency’s current market price,” the company stated.
Based on its large holdings of tokens, Ripple calculates that its average buyback costs are approximately $0.47 per XRP. The blockchain firm owns the vast majority of XRP with wallets connected to the company holding approximately 42 billion tokens as of this week, according to XRPScan. The stockpile contains more than $120 billion worth of XRP at current market rates.
A major part remains in escrow, a mechanism that helps to limit supply to the market. Ripple themselves are the largest holder [of XRP], largely in escrow, and demonstrated over more than 10 years that they’re very disciplined in how that gets released into the market,” VivoPower’s Executive Chairman Kevin Chin said, according to the Decrypt report.
Understanding the 86% Discount
The structure of the equity markets of Ripple can explain the 86% discount to VivoPower. The company is privately owned; hence, its stock is not listed on any exchange. Liquidity comes only through person-to-person arrangements or through private investment platforms like Forge. On Friday, Ripple shares traded at $114.23 on Forge, but it may take some weeks before a transaction is completed.
“It has historically been really challenging for Ripple to keep great employees because there is no liquidity,” said Adam Traidman, a former Ripple board member now advising VivoPower.
Ripple has also conducted periodic tender offers over the years to offer some cash-out to current or former employees. Foreign investors will, however, tend to encounter obstacles. Only accredited investors are able to participate, and these deals usually reach prices that fall below the market valuation of Ripple XRP reserves.
Chin said he first learned about the chance to acquire Ripple equity in June during a Singapore conference. This led to a two-month due diligence effort before VivoPower announced its intent. The company feels that the stake equates to about 211 million XRP of indirect exposure.
Meanwhile, VivoPower shares traded Thursday at $5.26, down from a late-May peak of $8.88 but otherwise up by about 300% since the January start of the year. On the other hand, XRP continues to decline, trading at $2.87 as of writing, much lower than its new all-time high of $3.65 on July 18, 2025.
