The Birla–Schwartz connection is longstanding. Birla joined Ripple in 2013 and rose to become General Manager of RippleNet, the company’s cross-border payments business, before moving to the company’s board in 2022. On the day he stepped back from his “day job”, Birla wrote: “After ~9 amazing years I’ve decided to wrap up my day job at Ripple. Luckily, I’m not going far as I join the Board of Directors.” In announcing Evernorth this week, Birla said he will step down from Ripple’s board to lead the new venture.
Evernorth’s capital-markets blueprint is expansive. The company plans to use its war chest to accumulate XRP and to “actively grow XRP per share over time” by lending to institutions, providing market liquidity and deploying capital into XRP-based DeFi strategies.
For XRP’s institutional storyline, the architecture matters. By targeting an exchange listing under “XRPN” and explicitly eschewing a passive ETF wrapper, Evernorth positions itself as an active, yield-generating public company with a balance sheet anchored in XRP. If the deal secures shareholder and regulatory approvals, the parties are aiming to close in the first quarter of 2026, converting non-redeemed AACI Class A shares one-for-one into Evernorth shares at closing.
Schwartz’s phrasing—“here’s the start”—reads like a deliberate tell that his Evernorth role is only the first of multiple XRP-aligned ventures he plans to take on following his CTO transition. He has already confirmed he will remain engaged with XRPL and Ripple at the board level; today’s advisory post adds a capital-markets dimension to that presence.
At press time, XRP traded at $2.42.
