Evernorth Holdings Inc., a newly-formed Nevada-based company, has announced its public launch, with the sole mission of accelerating the institutional-scale adoption of XRP. 

In a press release, Evernorth announced that it recently signed a business combination agreement with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Armada Acquisition Corp II. 

Following the completion of the merger, the companies will operate as Evernorth, and will trade under the ticker symbol XRPN on Nasdaq. However, the agreement is subject to regulatory approval and listing requirements. 

🚨 Big news: we’re going public.

We’ve entered into a business combination agreement with Armada Acquisition Corp II — a transaction expected to raise over $1B, creating the largest public XRP treasury company on the Nasdaq under “$XRPN.”

Learn more: https://t.co/MxamYqnatw pic.twitter.com/ZccPKerPOM

— evernorthxrp (@evernorthxrp) October 20, 2025

Ripple and SBI Back Deal to Support Largest XRP Treasury Initiative 

Notably, the merger is expected to raise a whopping $1 billion in gross proceeds to create the largest XRP treasury ever. Accordingly, Ripple’s longstanding partner SBI Holdings will lead the fundraising effort with an investment of $200 million. 

Ripple and other investors, including Pantera Capital, Rippleworks, and Kraken, among others, will also invest in the project. Other notable digital asset leaders and investors, including Ripple co-founder and Chairman Chris Larsen, are also backing the project. 

The Crypto Basic first reported this development last week, noting that Ripple alongside other partners intend to establish the world’s largest XRP treasury. However, the specific details of the deal remained unclear at the time.

The latest announcement revealed that the majority of the net proceeds will be directed toward open-market purchases of XRP, aimed at establishing the world’s largest institutional XRP treasury. Additionally, the remaining part of the funds will essentially be used for general corporate purposes, working capital, and transactional expenses. 

Ripple Chairman Invests 50M XRP 

Commenting on the development, Larsen celebrated the launch of Evernorth, referring to the company as today’s missing link in XRP capital markets. 

In the X post, Larsen revealed that he will personally contribute 50 million XRP, currently worth $122.5 million, in support of the initiative. 

In a separate comment, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse highlighted the company’s investment and partnership in the project. He expressed strong support for Evernorth and its leadership under Asheesh Birla, noting that the initiative will enhance institutional lending and DeFi yield opportunities for XRP.  

While Birla will lead the initiative, Ripple will remain a strategic investor, with the company’s executive Garlinghouse, David Schwartz (CTO), and Stuart Alderoty (CLO) serving as strategic advisers. 

Amid discussions around the uncertainty involving long-term HODLing, an XRP community pundit has shared the safest way to protect one’s XRP tokens from premature sales.

One central theme around crypto investments is the regret some investors face when an asset grows to impressive heights before they have the opportunity to gain exposure. 

However, software engineer Vincent Van Code has suggested that most investors would have sold before the big breakthrough even if they entered the market early. He highlighted that while some community members anticipate an XRP run to $1,000, most will sell to take a profit even before XRP reaches this price.

Van Code confirmed that this would be due to an inherent human trait. Interestingly, in response to this, Tony Valentino, another XRP community pundit, shared what he believes could be the safest way for XRP investors to avoid this temptation of selling too early.

According to him, XRP proponents could leverage the inbuilt escrow feature within the network to create personalized escrows in which they store their XRP tokens. When creating these escrows, investors could set up a timeframe for when they want the system to release their holdings, like 2030. 

XRPL Escrow Feature

For context, the XRP Ledger’s escrow feature lets users safely lock XRP or compatible tokens, such as trust line or multi-purpose tokens, until certain conditions are met. It makes it easy to send conditional payments without relying on a middleman.

There are three types of escrows: time-based, which releases funds after a particular period; conditional, which releases funds when a cryptographic preimage-SHA-256 condition is verified; and combination, which uses both methods.

When someone creates an escrow, the funds first enter a “Held” state. Once the system meets the conditions, the funds move to “Ready” or “Conditionally Ready.” 

The process ends in one of three ways: “Finished,” when the recipient receives the funds; “Expired,” when the system can cancel the escrow after the set time; or “Canceled,” when the sender gets the funds back. Token escrows must include an expiration date, but XRP escrows don’t always need one.

The sender must reserve some balance to create an escrow, and conditional escrows come with an extra fee that depends on the size of the fulfillment data. Market participants looking to learn how to create escrows more easily can follow the guide from XRP Toolkit.

The Agony of Long-Term HODLing

Valentino’s latest remarks come on the back of a growing issue among investors. While these investors regret not entering certain markets early, they likely would have sold before the assets hit ambitious heights. A classic instance is Bitcoin.

For an asset that changed hands at just $2 in November 2011, Bitcoin’s current price of around $110,000 means the crypto asset has gained by a massive 5,499,900% over the last 14 years. To put things into perspective, any investor who bought $100 worth of BTC in 2011 would today be sitting on $5.5 million.

Multiple market participants have regretted not entering the market early. However, in his commentary, Vincent Van Code suggested that even if these market participants entered the market that early, they would have sold at prices such as $100 or $1,000, as most of them would not have been able to hold until now.

He claimed this trend is likely to play out with XRP, especially amid recent ambitious price predictions. To handle this issue, investors could leverage the XRPL’s escrow feature.

Black Swan Capitalist co-founder Versan Aljarrah has once again reaffirmed his conviction about the future of XRP.

This time, he suggests that XRP’s strategic utility will eventually make it too valuable to remain in open circulation. 

In a new post, Aljarrah wrote, “When XRP’s strategic use case is fully realized, it won’t stay in circulation for long”. His statement speculates that the token may become scarce as institutional utility expands.

XRP Strategic Role in Global Finance

Aljarrah has consistently argued that XRP will play a foundational role in the new global financial system. He sees it serving as a bridge asset for tokenized money flows and institutional liquidity operations.

In earlier commentaries, he described XRP not merely as a crypto investment but as a “key to a new financial ecosystem.”

His view suggests that XRP’s real purpose goes far beyond retail speculation. Specifically, he has argued that XRP’s utility is to underpin cross-border value transfer and settlement infrastructure on a scale that supports trillions in tokenized assets.

“The Price Must Reflect Utility”

Aljarrah has also maintained that XRP’s price will eventually need to rise significantly to provide sufficient liquidity for large-scale institutional operations. He previously said that a $3 XRP cannot support a system processing trillions in tokenized assets, implying that liquidity-driven demand will force the market to reprice XRP.

As institutional adoption increases, he believes the circulating supply will shrink dramatically via institutional custody, corporate treasury integration, or direct use within Ripple’s expanding network.

Ripple’s recent acquisition of GTreasury, a major player in the $120 trillion corporate treasury market, reinforces this thesis. The move positions Ripple to embed XRP within global liquidity management systems.

Institutional Accumulation and Market Silence

Furthermore, Aljarrah has long warned that institutional accumulation of XRP is happening quietly. In his view, major financial entities like JPMorgan and BlackRock are strategically preparing to integrate XRP infrastructure, though no public confirmation has yet supported this claim.

He believes the absence of open discussion about XRP in mainstream banking circles is deliberate.

From Circulation to Utility Reserve

Ultimately, Aljarrah’s latest statement implies that once XRP’s full strategic role is recognized, much of its supply could move off exchanges and into institutional reserves, liquidity pools, or automated settlement systems, effectively reducing the token’s public float.

This scenario aligns with his earlier warning that a “supply shock is inevitable”. 

Notably, the booming XRP DeFi sector, which continuously locks XRP out of circulation, also fuels this outlook. Proponents believe this restricted supply will help XRP’s price surge far beyond double digits.

For Aljarrah and long-time XRP supporters, XRP is about long-term positioning not short-term gains. They believe holding XRP now means owning a stake in what they see as the backbone of the next global monetary infrastructure.

Brandon LaRoque, a North Carolina crypto investor, emotionally recounts how he lost 1.2 million XRP, valued at more than $3 million, to hackers. 

The victim, who has been investing in crypto since 2017, revealed that he had gradually accumulated 1.2 million XRP over the past eight years, which were stored in an Ellipal cold wallet. 

According to him, he has followed standard security practices, including writing down and storing his seed phrase in a safe place, while also avoiding suspicious calls. Despite sticking to these safety measures, he woke up on October 15 to find all 1.2 million XRP stolen. 

Victim’s Discovery 

Upon reviewing the wallet activity, Brandon disclosed that the attackers first made a test transaction on October 12 by transferring 10 XRP out of the wallet to a newly created wallet. A few minutes later, the attackers transferred another 1,209,000 XRP to more than 30 newly created wallets. 

From there, he said the funds were rapidly split into hundreds of smaller wallets, within the range of 500–900. Having stolen over 1.2 million XRP, the attackers left other assets in the wallet, including $1,000 worth of XLM and roughly $900 worth of FLR tokens. 

Feeling devastated, Brandon disclosed that the stolen XRP tokens were his retirement plans, as he and his wife planned to buy a house in Las Vegas and move there. However, he expressed gratitude that he invested in precious metals even though it is a much smaller investment compared to what he committed into crypto. 

As of the time of the video on October 15, Brandon disclosed that he filed a report with the FBI via IC3 but has not gotten any feedback. 

How Hackers Laundered the Funds 

Meanwhile, ZachXBT, a prominent on-chain sleuth, provided insight into the incident, suggesting that the heist was as a result of a user error. According to ZachXBT, Brandon believed he was using the Ellipal cold wallet, whereas it was the hot version. 

Following an investigation, ZachXBT discovered that the attackers executed over 120 XRP to Tron swaps through Bridgers (formerly SWFT) on October 12, 2025, using Binance for liquidity. 

After the mixing, the funds consolidated in a Tron wallet, TGF3h…e2bYw, and was eventually laundered through Southeast Asian-based Huione-associated OTC desks on October 15. This platform, according to Zach, is notorious for laundering billions of dollars worth of illicit funds. 

Notably, the on-chain sleuth stressed that the likelihood of Brandon recovering the funds is very low due to reporting delays.  

Ellipal Reacts 

In the meantime, Ellipal took to X to clarify that its cold wallet was not hacked. It revealed that Brandon compromised his security by importing his cold wallet’s seed phrase into a hot wallet. 

As a result, the funds became accessible online, allowing the attackers to siphon the 1.2 million XRP tokens. Having spoken with Brandon, Ellipal disclosed that it will continue to support him and warned other users against importing their cold wallet’s seed phrase into any online-based wallet. 

Also, users are advised to keep their recovery phrases and storage devices completely offline to avoid falling prey to hackers. As ZachXBT pointed out, hack victims should quickly report these incidents to competent entities in the private sector to help recover the funds.