Ripple, Kraken and Polymarket: How investors can access late-stage crypto equity

C1 Fund offers public-market investors exposure to established, private crypto infrastructure companies, including Ripple, Kraken and Polymarket, through an NYSE-listed fund.  

Buying major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH) takes seconds. Buying equity in companies such as Ripple, Kraken or Polymarket is more difficult. Most remain private, where access is generally limited to accredited investors and can require high investment minimums, transfer restrictions and limited liquidity. 

That access gap is becoming more relevant as several large private crypto companies pursue late-stage financings, share buybacks and potential public listings — while their equity remains largely outside the reach of ordinary investors.

Public-market access to late-stage crypto equity

C1 Fund (NYSE: CFND) focuses on established late-stage crypto infrastructure companies valued at $500 million or more, giving public-market investors exposure to businesses that would otherwise largely remain within private markets.

Several holdings illustrate the scale of that late-stage focus. Ripple was valued at approximately $50 billion in connection with a $750 million company-sponsored share buyback launched in March 2026. Polymarket was valued at approximately $21 billion in a recent financing. Kraken submitted confidential IPO documents in late 2025, while Blockchain.com announced a confidential submission in May 2026. 

Viewed together, these developments show several C1 portfolio companies moving further into the late-stage cycle. Share buybacks can provide partial liquidity without an IPO, while confidential submissions can be an important step toward a public listing. For C1, those events create additional potential routes for price discovery or liquidity beyond ordinary private secondary transactions.

C1 also sources opportunities in the private market, assesses pricing and terms, negotiates access and manages positions after purchase. That includes acquiring positions when suitable transactions become available or reducing positions when liquidity becomes available. As of June 30, 2026, C1 had deployed approximately $41.3 million across 11 portfolio companies, with those investments representing 77.5% of the fund’s net assets.

The portfolio stretches across different aspects of the crypto economy. Kraken, Blockchain.com and Polymarket sit at the exchange, liquidity and markets layer; Ripple and Uphold operate in settlement and payments; Alchemy, ConsenSys and Figment provide developer and network infrastructure; while Fireblocks, Chainalysis and BitGo focus on custody, security and compliance. Together, the 11 companies give C1 exposure across several of the core functions that allow crypto markets to operate and scale.

CFND trades on the NYSE during regular market hours and can be bought or sold through standard brokerage accounts. Rather than sourcing private shares, negotiating transaction terms and arranging exits for each company, investors can gain exposure to C1’s portfolio through a single publicly traded security. 

Crypto is getting bigger — so is the infrastructure behind it

The growth of traditional financial institution participation is another indicator of the sector’s scale.  In 2026, BlackRock reported nearly $150 billion in assets under management connected to digital assets, illustrating the scale at which large financial institutions are now participating in the sector.

Activity at that level requires more than the underlying tokens. It requires operational infrastructure: exchanges and liquidity, settlement and payments, developer networks, staking, custody, security and compliance. These functions are all represented across C1’s portfolio holdings. 

For investors, that creates a different way into the crypto growth story: exposure to the companies building, moving and securing the ecosystem before more of them reach the public markets.