Evernorth Bets Big on XRP as Finance Moves On-Chain

Evernorth CEO Asheesh Birla has provided an insight into why the company is building around XRP and the XRP Ledger (XRPL). 

During a recent livestream, he framed XRP and XRPL as purpose-built financial plumbing for the next generation of global finance. His commentary underscores how blockchain networks are evolving from speculative platforms into core financial infrastructure. 

Key Points 

• Evernorth CEO Asheesh Birla says global finance is undergoing a major shift as traditional systems move onto blockchain infrastructure.
• He argues that XRP was specifically designed for real-world financial operations. 
• This prompted the company to build its entire corporate strategy around XRP.
• The company is creating the world’s largest XRP treasury, which it plans to deploy across settlement flows, treasury management, tokenized assets, and decentralized finance solutions. 

Transformation of Global Finance

Birla argued that global finance is on the brink of a major transformation as traditional systems rapidly migrate to blockchain infrastructure. He believes the scale of this shift remains widely underestimated.

He noted that Bitcoin was designed primarily as a digital alternative to gold and is widely used as a store of value rather than a payment or settlement network.

Meanwhile, Ethereum introduced programmable applications but prioritized broad functionality over financial performance. This resulted in higher fees, congestion, and slower transaction speeds, limiting its suitability for institutional finance. 

XRP Purpose-Built for Finance

In contrast, Birla indicated that XRP and the XRPL were specifically engineered for real-world financial use. The XRPL delivers near-instant settlement, ultra-low transaction costs, high throughput, and strong reliability. As a result, it supports payments, liquidity management, asset tokenization, and decentralized finance at scale.

Additionally, XRP functions as a neutral bridge asset, enabling efficient value transfers across currencies, networks, and jurisdictions.

Evernorth’s XRP-Centered Strategy

Given these advantages, Birla emphasized that Evernorth has structured its entire strategy around XRP to meet modern financial demands. The company is building one of the world’s largest institutional XRP treasuries, worth at least $1 billion in capital.

Evernorth intends to deploy its XRP across settlement flows, treasury operations, tokenized asset frameworks, and institutional-grade DeFi solutions. Consequently, the firm aims to operate a fully on-chain financial model that is faster, cheaper, and more efficient than traditional systems.

Beyond treasury accumulation, Evernorth plans to expand the XRPL ecosystem by supporting financial products built on the network. It also intends to generate yield from its XRP holdings and reinvest the proceeds into acquiring more tokens.

Furthermore, the company aims to simplify institutional access to XRP by handling the operational complexity behind the scenes, allowing institutions to gain indirect exposure efficiently. In the company’s view, blockchain networks optimized specifically for financial use will ultimately capture the bulk of institutional activity as traditional finance moves on-chain.