In this special edition, we are recapping our livestream from the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square with Evernorth, an XRP digital asset treasury company, that went public this week under the ticker “XRPN” on the NASDAQ. Ahead of the closing bell, we sat down with:

Our discussion touched upon how Evernorth plans to put its roughly 473 million XRP to work through lending and other yield strategies; where U.S. regulation stands now that the Clarity Act has stalled; how institutions are evaluating digital asset treasury companies; and what it will take to bring a more mature, institutional version of DeFi to the XRP Ledger.

This livestream was part of the Talking Tokens podcast’s coverage of Evernorth’s Nasdaq debut, held from the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square.

Evernorth, a digital asset treasury company focused on XRP, began trading on the Nasdaq this week under the ticker “XRPN.” The company currently has roughly 473 million XRP and about $300 million in gross cash.

As institutions that hold XRP start exploring how to make the most of the asset, Evernorth is coming to market with the intention to put its treasury to work through lending, derivatives and other yield strategies. 

To date, XRP ETFs have drawn nearly $2 billion in inflows, largely from institutions. Sagar Shah, chief business officer at Evernorth, says institutional investors are asking “how do I generate more XRP, off the XRP that I’ve already got?”

Shah sees Evernorth as a way for investors to get more exposure to XRP than just holding it. “How do we actually now compound that growth? It can get complicated. It can be challenging for someone that’s not familiar with blockchain […] I think that’s where something like Evernorth comes into play.” Shah said.  

Evernorth isn’t the first to put its crypto-based treasury to work, but the company is trying to differentiate itself to its customers through its scale: Strategies like pledging assets into pools, positioning for market-making, and using XRP as collateral, the company argues, can be difficult for investors to execute on their own. 

“A lot of these are things that even institutions might not be able to do unless they have the right scale,” Shah said. “Evernorth being as large as we are, with north of 470 million units of XRP, are able to architect those types of transactions that an individual investor would not.” 

The company currently has Ripple, Kraken, Coinbase and BitGo as its execution partners. Shah said Evernorth chose those partnerships because these companies have the regulatory licenses, counterparty capital and product suites that could help it  deploy its treasury at scale.

Scale will definitely help, but there’s still many obstacles in the way of institutions deciding to bet more thoroughly on digital assets. But according to David Schwartz, CTO Emeritus at Ripple (he also sits on Evernorth’s board), tech is no longer an obstacle for banks and asset managers looking at the XRP Ledger. Instead, he argues, the big blockers now are regulation and integrations with existing infrastructure. 

Schwartz compared the situation to space travel, where the engineering has long been figured out, but the logistics still aren’t easy. “Going to the moon is a solved problem, right? We did it 50 years ago,” he said. “But can you go to the moon [today]? The practical effort necessary to get things done is the obstacle, not so much the technology.”

Schwartz says Evernorth, now that it’s listed, can help with the integration part, as it will be plugging blockchain tech into traditional systems, and so institutions can move their money and manage it on a balance sheet. 

Asheesh Birla, founder and CEO of Evernorth, said the company’s focus on its product is what separates it from passive vehicles like ETFs and Strategy. “From day one, we’re looking to be an active treasury, very different from some of the passive treasuries out there.”

Birla says Evernorth plans to adopt a measured approach to deploying its treasury. “We are not going to be running and sprinting,” he said. “We are going to be methodically making moves into yield opportunities as they arise and weighing the risk, making sure we have the right kinds of controls in place.”

The listing comes as crypto regulation in the U.S. came to an abrupt halt after months of hopeful momentum sparked by the GENIUS Act, which breathed new life into the stablecoin economy. The Clarity Act, which would have drawn hard rules around how digital assets would be regulated, and how crypto companies would function, stalled in the Senate in September after months of fitful progress. 

Stu Alderoty, chief legal officer at Ripple and an Evernorth board director, said the setback weighs more heavily on newer entrants than on established players. “Would it have been an absolute net positive for CLARITY to pass? Absolutely. Was it a necessity for CLARITY to pass for companies like Ripple and Evernorth to be successful? I don’t think so.”

Matt Frymier, CFO at Evernorth, says the measure of success over time for the company will be how much XRP it can add per share. “I can’t control the stock price,” he said. “But we can control those other numbers a little bit better.”

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This information is for entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research.