TechCrunch Founder Says That Ripple Is Only Worth Its XRP Holdings Lack “Reality Check”

A controversy has erupted in the XRP community around Ripple’s newly announced $500 million raise at a $40 billion valuation.

Specifically, Unchained reported that some outside venture capitalists believe Ripple is worth little beyond its XRP holdings. The criticism sparked a strong rebuttal from the XRP community.

TechCrunch founder and Arrington Capital chief Michael Arrington argued that the anti-Ripple narrative relies on “stunning amounts of cognitive dissonance.”

VC Skepticism: Ripple Valuation “All About the XRP”

For context, Unchained’s Laura Shin, citing editor Steven Ehrlich, shared comments from multiple VCs who argued that Ripple’s valuation is primarily tied to its large XRP reserves, not its technology.

According to the report, one prominent venture capitalist said, “Ripple is not worth anything outside of XRP holdings. No one uses their tech.”

Another added, “Ripple equity is not likely worth very much on its own, certainly not $40 billion.”

Furthermore, anonymous investors reportedly told Unchained that participating firms may have been attracted by the opportunity to gain indirect exposure to Ripple’s XRP holdings — possibly at an implied discount to spot prices — rather than betting on Ripple’s product success.

A former Ripple employee also noted that the round helps the company avoid selling XRP to fund acquisitions, preserves market confidence, and locks in the $40 billion valuation previously reflected in secondary markets, such as Carta.

The report framed Ripple as paradoxically “cash-poor” despite being one of the best-capitalized entities in crypto.

“Cognitive Dissonance” in Anti-Ripple Narrative

Meanwhile, Michael Arrington pushed back on the VCs’ claims. Responding to Shin’s post, Arrington wrote that the idea Ripple is valuable only because of its XRP holdings, paired with the view that XRP itself is worthless, requires an extraordinary disconnect.

He stressed that dismissing both Ripple’s valuation and XRP’s relevance simultaneously ignores the company’s real-world expansion, institutional traction, and strategic alignment around a digital asset that remains central to its ecosystem.

Arrington suggested critics are downplaying the agency of XRP holders and overlooking the tangible progress Ripple has made across key financial and regulatory sectors.

These arguments that ripple is only worth their XRP holdings and therefore is worthless because xrp is worthless and all the people who own xrp have been duped and lack agency requires fairly stunning amounts of cognitive dissonance to pull off. https://t.co/qZ5V98BJtQ

— Michael Arrington 🏴‍☠️ (@arrington) November 6, 2025

Institutional Investors Are Betting on Ripple’s Larger Vision

Interestingly, the tension arises at a moment when Ripple is undergoing its most aggressive expansion ever. The company has completed six acquisitions in just over two years, including Hidden Road, GTreasury, Metaco, Palisade, and Rail.

During this time, it has launched RLUSD, its USD-backed stablecoin, and entered institutional custody, treasury, brokerage, and liquidity markets. Ripple has also secured involvement with major payment networks such as Mastercard.

The strategic investors in the round, including Citadel Securities, Pantera Capital, Brevan Howard, Galaxy Digital, Fortress Investment Group, and Marshall Wace, declined to comment on whether XRP holdings influenced their decisions. 

Meanwhile, a source close to one participant told Unchained that these firms already have long-standing business relationships with Ripple. Accordingly, they are backing multiple winners in a fast-evolving, regulated stablecoin economy shaped by the newly enacted GENIUS Act.

The source added that even if Ripple’s product roadmap faced challenges, the company’s massive treasury would still allow it to “buy another company” and keep expanding.