Ripple Becomes C1 Fund's Top Private Equity Holding

Ripple Labs has become the largest private-company holding in the portfolio of the NYSE-listed C1 Fund (CFND) after the second quarter of 2026, accounting for 17.5% of the fund's net assets as of June 30. The shift marks a notable repricing event in the fund's private digital-asset allocation and highlights how issuer-led buybacks and secondary-market transactions can reshape private-market valuations for blockchain-related companies.

Key highlights

C1 Fund made Ripple its largest holding, representing 17.5% of net assets on June 30. Payward, Kraken’s parent company, ranked second with an allocation equal to 16.9% of net assets. Portfolio investments totaled $33.07 million across eleven private digital asset companies on June 30, 2026. Ripple’s partial issuer buyback generated an approximately 150% return for C1 Fund within four months. C1 Fund repurchased 249,300 shares for $824,440 through July under its existing authorized buyback program.

Fund composition and valuation approach

At quarter end, C1 Fund reported total net assets of $42.63 million and a net asset value (NAV) of $6.49 per share. The fund listed $33.07 million in private-company investments at fair value, representing about 77.5% of its net assets, while the remainder included $9.96 million invested in short-term U.S. Treasury securities (roughly 23.3%).

The private holdings span 11 digital-asset and blockchain businesses, including Ripple, Payward (Kraken), Alchemy, BitGo, Blockchain.com, Chainalysis, ConsenSys, Figment, Fireblocks, Polymarket (parent Blockratize), and Uphold. C1 Fund evaluates these positions using fair-value accounting procedures that rely on secondary transactions, issuer buybacks, and other valuation inputs typical for private-market assets, where continuous price discovery is limited.

Why Ripple overtook Kraken

Ripple’s 17.5% weighting translated to an estimated position value of roughly $7.46 million, while Payward’s 16.9% corresponded to about $7.20 million. The rise to the top reflects a partial issuer buyback by Ripple that provided C1 Fund with an opportunistic exit on a portion of its holdings.

Issuer buyback and realized return

In April, C1 Fund sold 1,407 Series A preferred shares of Ripple back to the issuer for $422,100 through a company-sponsored transaction. That specific sale generated an approximate 150% return for C1 Fund on the shares involved in less than four months. The fund retained a substantial residual position in Ripple after the sale, which is why Ripple remains the largest private equity holding even after the partial exit.

It’s important to note that the ~150% return applied only to the tranche sold in the buyback; it was not a blanket revaluation for all Ripple holdings in the fund, nor does it serve as a definitive market-wide valuation of Ripple’s private equity.

Clarifying Ripple equity vs. XRP

Market participants sometimes confuse Ripple the company with XRP the cryptocurrency. C1 Fund’s position is equity in Ripple Labs — ownership shares in the private company — not the XRP token itself. Equity holders have potential claims on company revenue, assets, or dividends (subject to corporate structure and governance), whereas XRP holders do not. Although corporate developments can influence both private equity and token prices, they represent distinct assets with different rights and risk profiles.

Secondary markets, liquidity and NAV discount

Closed-end funds like C1 often trade at market prices that diverge from reported NAV. C1 Fund reported 6,568,348 shares outstanding and a NAV of $6.49 per share at quarter end, while CFND traded near $2.85 at the end of August — more than 50% below the reported NAV. That market discount can stem from limited liquidity, valuation uncertainty for private holdings, management fees, or investor sentiment toward the crypto sector and private-market exposure.

Share repurchases

To help narrow the gap between market price and NAV, C1 Fund’s board authorized a repurchase program in January for up to $3 million. Through July 31, the fund had repurchased and retired 249,300 shares for an aggregate of $824,440. The repurchase activity signals the fund’s willingness to use buybacks opportunistically when market price deviates significantly from NAV, but authorization does not obligate the fund to deploy the full amount and remains subject to market conditions and SEC rules.

IPO prospects and potential liquidity events

Several portfolio companies have pursued or completed activities that could create future liquidity routes. Kraken (Payward) and Blockchain.com filed confidential registration statements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, initiating a confidential IPO process. Kraken’s co-CEO Arjun Sethi confirmed Kraken had entered the confidential filing process in April; Blockchain.com disclosed a similar step later. Confidential submissions open the door to an IPO but do not guarantee a listing or timing.

BitGo already completed a public offering in January 2026. An eventual listing for Kraken or Blockchain.com would offer clearer market pricing for those positions and potentially provide pathways for funds like C1 to monetize holdings after any lock-up periods. Ripple, however, has not publicly filed for an IPO or announced a timetable for a listing; absent an issuer-led liquidity event, its valuation will continue to rely on private-market signals including secondary trades and company buybacks.

Other funds with Ripple equity exposure

Ripple equity positions are not unique to C1 Fund. For example, a Kinetics mutual fund disclosed ownership of 1,875 Class A Ripple shares valued at $246,319 in a quarterly SEC portfolio filing — a tiny fraction of that fund’s net assets. Such disclosures indicate incremental institutional interest in private blockchain equity, but they remain modest in scale relative to liquid token markets.

What to watch next

Investors tracking the C1 Fund and the broader private blockchain market should watch for several catalysts that could materially alter valuations: additional issuer buybacks, secondary-market transactions, public filings or IPOs by portfolio companies, and subsequent quarterly disclosures (including C1 Fund’s forthcoming Form N-PORT filing with the SEC). Those filings will offer more granular security-level detail on values, security types, and valuation classifications, and will determine whether Ripple keeps its edge over Payward in future reporting periods.