With this step, Wall Street opens trading in the largest public fund based on the XRP token; however, the celebration's first day is accompanied by a steep market discount and regulatory restrictions.
Unlike classic spot ETFs, which passively hold the cryptocurrency, Evernorth is launching an actively managed strategy. Former Ripple manager Asheesh Birla and former Coinbase Asset Management chief investment officer Hugo Jeandesboz intend to direct fiat capital and token reserves into DeFi strategies and institutional lending within the XRP Ledger ecosystem. Management's goal is to ensure steady growth in the amount of XRP per fund share.
How the protracted deal cost the company $450 million
The listing exposed heavy pressure from the protracted merger process. The deal terms were fixed in late 2025, with XRP at $2.37. Amid the token's current drop to $1.34–$1.40, Evernorth's starting balance (473 million XRP and about $300 million in fiat) has suffered a "paper" markdown of almost $450 million on its treasury holdings.
Investor skepticism is also confirmed by the capital structure: 80.3% of the original SPAC pool's participants preferred to take their money in cash ($10.58 per share) rather than exchange it for a stake in the crypto business. As a result, the actual free float of XRPN on NASDAQ shrank to an extremely low 4.5 million shares.
Such low liquidity guarantees investors high price volatility and sharp price squeezes.
Insiders on pause: How regulators and the XRP price reacted to the listing
Fresh SEC disclosures show that the project is fully controlled by institutional heavyweights and Ripple's founders:
- Japanese conglomerate SBI Holdings has received the largest stake, 39.9% of voting shares.
- Venture fund Arrington Capital holds 19.9% (contributed 211 million XRP to the balance sheet).
- Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen controls 9.9% through a trust.
- Ripple Labs itself is limited to a 9.9% stake (contributed 177 million XRP).
To prevent an immediate dump of shares by insiders, the SEC imposed a strict six-month lock-up period on the stakes of Arrington, Larsen, and Ripple. Any sales on the open market are prohibited until April 2027.
The spot cryptocurrency market reacted to the listing with the classic "buy the rumor, sell the news" scenario. Since Evernorth had accumulated its entire XRP volume over the counter in advance, no direct wave of demand appeared on exchanges.
After the token's speculative spike above $1.55 on expectations, XRP corrected this week to $1.34–$1.36.
