• Evernorth Holdings Inc. has announced its next major move in the institutional crypto market. Backed by Ripple, the company plans to merge with Armada Acquisition Corp II to go public and raise over $1 billion.

  • The goal is to build the world’s largest public XRP treasury — following the model pioneered by Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) with Bitcoin.

  • According to the press release, the raised capital will primarily be used to purchase XRP on the open market. Unlike a passive ETF, Evernorth aims for long-term growth in XRP per share, leveraging institutional lending, liquidity programs, and yield strategies across decentralized finance (DeFi).

The project is backed by high-profile investors including Ripple Labs, SBI Holdings, Pantera Capital, Kraken, and XRP co-founder Chris Larsen. Leading the new entity is Asheesh Birla, a former senior Ripple executive, supported by an experienced team from the crypto industry.

After the merger, the company will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker XRPN. The IPO is expected in the first quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approval.

Asheesh Birla:

“Evernorth was designed to give investors more than simple exposure to XRP’s price. By leveraging proven yield-generation strategies in TradFi and investing in DeFi opportunities, we’re contributing to the maturity and growth of this ecosystem.”

He added: “This approach aims to create returns for shareholders while boosting XRP’s utility and adoption.”

Beyond its treasury focus, the company plans to operate its own validators within the XRP Ledger and use Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD as a gateway for XRP-based DeFi. Evernorth also intends to support projects centered on payments, capital markets, and asset tokenization.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse added:

“Ripple has long supported XRP as a global asset for efficient cross-border payments. Evernorth fully aligns with that mission and brings more use cases, participation, and trust to the XRP ecosystem.”