“My crypto journey actually started with buying XRP in 2016,” Chin said, explaining that the token’s original use case—low-cost transfers into emerging markets—mirrored the geographies where he operates both for-profit and non-profit ventures. “Fast-forward to today, when the opportunity came about to turn Vivo into an XRP-focused treasury and DeFi solutions company, I really felt convicted to do that, as did the rest of the board.”
Where MicroStrategy treats bitcoin as inert digital gold, VivoPower wants an asset it can work with. “Most of these treasury companies are focused on a net asset that doesn’t have native utility,” Traidman said. “Using a token which does have real utility is even more powerful because we can influence that utility by growing the ecosystem.”
Unlike a spot ETF, the corporate structure lets VivoPower share those yields directly with investors. “That would be the plan,” Traidman said when asked whether staking income could flow out as a dividend. “It’s a real differentiator for potential investors who want the upside of XRP and yield.”
That yield focus is already shaping capital strategy. VivoPower will fund initial purchases with equity, anchored by Prince Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, an XRP holder since 2017. Borrowing could follow, but only “if the cost-of-capital equation stacks up,” Chin said, praising ex-Goldman CFO David Mansfield for “judicious” discipline.
Both executives addressed the specter of crypto volatility head-on. “There is some fervor in the markets in terms of treasury-based strategies,” Chin conceded, yet argued that swings become “an asset that you can generate yield off.” His remedy is time horizon: “We think in five-year cycles when we formulate strategy and execution plans.”
Traidman, who built one of the first iOS bitcoin wallets before selling it to Coinbase, framed the macro backdrop as uniquely favorable. Spot-crypto ETFs and more accommodative US regulators, he said, have created “a really strong floor” beneath top-tier tokens. “It’s too big to fail … The downside risk is going down.”
Under nondisclosure obligations, Chin declined to detail forthcoming deals, but disclosed that due diligence is under way on startups building atop the XRP Ledger—investments that could both earn venture returns and expand use-cases for VivoPower’s treasury. The company’s own subsidiaries will pilot RLUSD-based remittances, with an eye toward expanding into Ghana, Kenya, and other markets where dollar liquidity is scarce.
Chin summed up the ambition succinctly: “We will still be here in five years’ time, in ten years’ time, irrespective of what goes on in the market,” because the model extends beyond holding a volatile asset to “engaging and building DeFi solutions that ultimately generate income and cash.”
At press time, XRP traded at $2.08.
