Evernorth Holdings Inc. named Asheesh Birla chief executive on October 20, 2025. The announcement came inside a press release about the company's public launch1. Evernorth also said it would merge with Armada Acquisition Corp II, a Nasdaq-listed acquisition company. The deal is expected to raise over $1 billion in gross proceeds. That sum includes $200 million from SBI. Birla had previously worked as a senior executive at Ripple. The release credited him with building Ripple's cross-border payments business.
Three leadership moves at Evernorth on the record since 2025
Every move CryptoLately has verified there, by the day it became public
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Oct. 20, 2025 | Birla became CEO. Asheesh Birla was named Chief Executive Officer of Evernorth |
| Oct. 20, 2025 | Frymier became CFO. Matthew Frymier was named Chief Financial Officer of Evernorth |
| May 5, 2026 | Kapeller became Chief Risk Officer. Boris Kapeller was named Chief Risk Officer of Evernorth |
35 CEO appointments on the record in 2025, the most of any year
CEO appointments CryptoLately has verified, by year; 2026 through Oct. 2, 2026
- 2025: 35
- 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2026
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 8 |
| 2020 | 7 |
| 2021 | 6 |
| 2022 | 18 |
| 2023 | 17 |
| 2024 | 26 |
| 2025 | 35 |
| 2026 | 18 |
The move
Evernorth's release named four other officers alongside Birla. Matthew Frymier took the chief financial officer role, Meg Nakamura became chief operating officer, Jessica Jonas took chief legal officer, and Sagar Shah became chief business officer1. Ripple, a strategic investor in the deal, is expected to supply three advisors: executives Brad Garlinghouse, Stuart Alderoty, and David Schwartz, the release said. Garlinghouse, Ripple's chief executive, named his history with Birla directly. “Having worked alongside Asheesh for many years, I'm fully confident in his and the team's ability to take XRP's presence in capital markets to the next level with Evernorth,” Garlinghouse said. Birla described the business plan in the same release, dated October 20, 2025. “As we capitalize on existing TradFi yield generation strategies and deploy into DeFi yield opportunities, we also contribute to the growth and maturity of that ecosystem,” Birla said.
Evernorth before and after
The release called Evernorth a "newly formed" Nevada corporation on October 20, 2025. Its task was holding XRP as a reserve asset and growing that holding through institutional lending and decentralized finance yield1. Net proceeds from the SPAC merger would fund open-market XRP purchases, the release said. The deal was expected to close in the first quarter of 2026. By January 15, 2026, DL News reported that Evernorth held 388 million XRP tokens, a sum Birla called the largest XRP treasury in existence2. He told Nasdaq MarketSite on January 15, 2026, that "the timing couldn't be more perfect" for the listing, citing what he called a crypto-friendly regulatory environment.
What to watch
Evernorth's own release set the first marker. In October 2025 Evernorth expected to close its Armada Acquisition Corp II merger and list on Nasdaq under the ticker XRPN in the first quarter of 20261. That quarter ended with the deal still open. Armada II's shareholders had approved the merger by October 1, 2026, The Block reported that day, and the deal was expected to close on October 7, with XRPN trading on Nasdaq from October 83. A second marker is scale. Birla raised it in his January 15, 2026 interview. “You have to have scale. Evernorth is the largest XRP treasury out there,” Birla told DL News. Treasuries also need to be "active stewards, helping the XRP ecosystem flourish and develop," he added2. The Block reported that Evernorth expected to hold roughly 473 million XRP at closing, up from the 388 million XRP DL News counted in January 2026. Whether the deal closes on October 7 and XRPN opens for trading on October 8, 2026, will test both claims.
Sources
- Evernorth Holdings Inc., "Evernorth to Go Public With Over $1 Billion in Gross Proceeds," PR Newswire, October 20, 2025, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/evernorth-to-go-public-with-over-1-billion-in-gross-proceeds-302588932.html
- Pedro Solimano, "XRP treasury Evernorth prepares for IPO: 'The timing couldn't be better,'" DL News, January 15, 2026, https://www.dlnews.com/articles/markets/evernorth-ceo-says-timing-perfect-for-ipo-despite-dat-woes/
- Jason Shubnell, "Evernorth shareholders approve $1 billion XRP treasury deal, clearing path to Nasdaq debut," The Block, October 1, 2026, https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMipAFBVV95cUxPdEtpMWZteFJIT194NTR2eVp6clh4TG5GTEFwY0ZtaXFxcXMwNXJ6R0lQdzFyWkRtbUZKTFBac0t6eEZsbkFrWU9RTmh3MXpRMkc1TEREUExONVNFQUpmZkt1WGNBMnFsRF9wd0JkOG1jYkk4Y2luTWJsMDRUdXVEQ2YtZnZQVUNFRi1ETHdGNHRnSXp2MXJFVzJhQUdTR3ZBTDBBUw?oc=5