[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong (홍진주)] Ripple has been included in the top 10 of the Prime Unicorn Index, which tracks U.S. private unicorn companies.

On May 8 (local time), blockchain outlet The Crypto Basic reported that Ripple ranked sixth in the index and was the only cryptocurrency company among the top 10.

The ranking is seen as an indicator of Ripple's presence in the U.S. private market. The Prime Unicorn Index, calculated by Lagniappe Labs, tracks stock performance of U.S. private startups valued at $1 billion or more. The index applies a modified market capitalisation method and also serves as a benchmark for financial products linked to private companies.

The index currently includes 232 companies. Their combined valuation is $3.433 trillion. As of April 15, SpaceX ranked first with a valuation of $1.253 trillion and a 10 percent weight. OpenAI followed with $917.31 billion and a 9 percent weight, and Anthropic ranked third with $332.37 billion and an 8 percent weight.

Ripple Labs ranked sixth with a valuation of $26.009 billion and a 5 percent weight in the index. Companies ahead of Ripple ran up to Databricks and Anduril Industries, while behind it were Cerebras Systems, People Center, Devoted Health and Neuralink.

The index provider explained that the index includes U.S. venture investment-backed private companies valued at $1 billion or more. It also said the base date is Jan. 20, 2021, the official launch was Jan. 17, 2024, and it carries out regular rebalancing each January, April, July and October.

Ripple's ranking is also tied to how private companies are valued. As a private company, Ripple's valuation is formed not by a listed share price but through funding rounds, tender offers, over-the-counter secondary trades and share buybacks. Ripple raised $200 million in a Series C investment in 2019 at an estimated valuation of about $10 billion.

Its valuation then rose quickly. In early 2024, Ripple carried out a tender offer and share buyback and was valued at about $11 billion to $11.3 billion. On Nov. 5, 2025, it closed a $500 million late-stage strategic investment round involving Pantera, Citadel Securities and Galaxy, among others, and its valuation was put at $40 billion after the deal. That transaction also included a secondary sale of some existing shares.

In March this year, it began a $750 million share buyback and tender offer. In that deal, Ripple put its valuation at $50 billion. That was 25 percent higher than the November 2025 valuation, and the tender offer continued through April.

However, Ripple's value in the index differed from that. The Prime Unicorn Index reflected Ripple's valuation at about $26 billion for the second quarter of 2026. That is a large gap versus the $50 billion figure Ripple presented based on its own tender offer and share buyback prices.

The gap stemmed from different calculation methods. The index calculates valuation mainly based on over-the-counter secondary market transaction data and verified primary and secondary trades. Ripple's $50 billion valuation, by contrast, was based on tender offer and share buyback prices presented directly by the company. The ranking reflected that even for the same company, private-market valuations can differ depending on which transactions are used as the reference.