u.today
Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley has suggested that Ripple could be potentially called an "$XRP treasury company" in 12 months.
Ripple has been viewed as a payments company due to its focus on cross-border transactions, but its identity could potentially change due to the growing corporate trend in crypto.
According to Ripple's last $XRP markets report for the first quarter, the company's total holdings currently stand at 4.56 billion $XRP.
There are also 37 billion $XRP tokens kept in escrow, the most recent data shows.
As reported by U.Today, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse previously claimed that the company's $11 billion valuation was "very outdated", pointing to the company's vast $XRP riches that total roughly $100 billion.
Roughly 42% of the cryptocurrency's total supply remains under Ripple's influence.
That said, it is worth noting that Ripple does not technically hold the escrow tokens since they are controlled by automated on-ledger smart contracts that release $XRP funds on a monthly basis.
$XRP as a treasury reserve asset
There are several public companies currently exploring $XRP treasuries. Trident Digital Tech Holdings announced a plan to raise $500 million worth of $XRP. Webus International is aiming for $300 million. Meanwhile, VivoPower International and Wellgistics Health secured $121million and $50 million worth of capital, respectively, in order to build out their $XRP treasuries.