Despite a market crash, XRP is up 13% in 2025, and Ripple now controls over 40 billion XRP, including escrowed holdings.
Ripple Labs is raising $1 billion to fill up a new crypto war chest with more XRP, even as most of the market is still wrecked from last week’s meltdown.
The company is creating what it calls a digital-asset treasury, or DAT, which will be stacked with XRP. The money will come through a SPAC deal, and Ripple also plans to put in some of its own XRP tokens, according to a report by Bloomberg.
This plan hasn’t been finalized yet.A few details, including Ripple’s full contribution and the structure of the fundraising, are still being discussed.
But the end goal is clear: Ripple wants to bulk up its XRP reserves fast and on its own terms, while the industry is still struggling to recover.
Ripple buys GTreasury, pushes ahead with SPAC while markets drop
The fundraising comes just days after a market crash that triggered massive liquidations. The sell-off, which was worsened by the growing U.S.-China trade tensions, caused serious panic across altcoins. Even Bitcoin dropped more than 3% on Thursday, showing the market isn’t done bleeding. That hasn’t stopped Ripple from moving forward. If the plan works, this would be the largest XRP-focused treasury ever created.
At the same time, Cryptopolitan reported on Thursday that Ripple is buying GTreasury for $1 billion. GTreasury is a company that builds tools for finance teams to manage crypto holdings like stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and other assets. Ripple said the deal will help it work more closely with corporate treasurers who want better crypto infrastructure.
Still, investors don’t seem too excited about DATs lately. Shares of big crypto-holding firms like Strategy Inc., run by Michael Saylor, and Metaplanet in Japan have dropped sharply in recent months. Most people are backing off after watching Bitcoin and altcoins get hammered. That makes Ripple’s timing all the more unusual.
But XRP has held up better than most. So far in 2025, the token has risen 13%, while Bitcoin is up 16%. Ripple already holds 4.74 billion XRP in its wallets, worth around $11 billion, based on recent prices. The company also has 35.9 billion XRP locked up in on-ledger escrows, which release on a monthly basis.
Crypto treasuries slow down as Ripple builds its own stash
This year, more than 300 public companies are holding Bitcoin through crypto treasury vehicles, many of which were created using SPACs or reverse mergers. But the buying is slowing fast. In August, firms bought just 14,800 Bitcoin, down from 66,000 in June.
The average purchase size dropped to 343 Bitcoin, a huge fall from earlier highs. Back in March, Bitcoin accumulation was growing at 163%, but by August, that number was just 8%.
So far, XRP hasn’t seen that kind of institutional action. Few companies have taken major stakes in the token. One rare case is VivoPower International Plc, a clean-energy firm that raised $121 million in May to move into XRP. Most treasuries remain focused on Bitcoin.
While Ripple prepares its SPAC-driven fundraising push, others in the space are trying new strategies. Some crypto lenders and derivatives firms have been building out creative financing tools like Bitcoin-backed loans, convertible token deals, and structured crypto payouts. These setups offer more speed and freedom than banks can, but they’re also risky.
In fact, some of these strategies have become dangerous games. Traders are now betting on short-term yields, giving up long-term upside just to stay afloat. It’s turned into a tightrope walk for some treasury managers; they’re stacking volatile assets on top of even riskier structures, with barely any room for error.
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