Evernorth taps Ripple, Kraken, Coinbase and BitGo to put $648 million XRP treasury to work

Evernorth plans to start deploying its XRP treasury holdings through "institutional strategies" in the fourth quarter, naming Ripple and crypto exchanges Kraken, Coinbase and BitGo as its first partners on Wednesday.

The company holds 473 million XRP, worth roughly $648 million at current prices. The announcement comes two days after Evernorth began trading on the Nasdaq under XRPN after a deSPAC merger with Armada Acquisition Corp. II.

"We're putting our treasury to work," founder and CEO Asheesh Birla said. "We are beginning with some of the strongest institutional counterparties in the industry."

Evernorth aims to put its XRP holdings to work to generate earnings and increase its holdings per share rather than just pursue outright accumulation. The announcement did not specify how much XRP would be deployed.

The company also plans to expand into lending and onchain DeFi strategies on the XRP Ledger as those features become available.

The strategy is being led by its new chief investment officer, Hugo Jeandesboz, who previously served as co-chief investment officer at Coinbase Asset Management.

"That means a treasury strategy, a risk framework and counterparties you would be comfortable explaining to a public-company board," Jeandesboz said.

XRPN shares have stayed relatively flat since opening on Monday at $16.68. The stock closed Tuesday at $16.48 before edging up to $16.60 in after-hours trading. Evernorth is slated to ring the Nasdaq closing bell Wednesday afternoon.