Evernorth Holdings has announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has declared effective its Form S-4 registration statement, bringing the XRP-focused firm one step closer to a Nasdaq listing at a time when crypto assets face growing scrutiny in the public investment markets.

The development opens up another potential regulated option for investors seeking access to XRP, and it also serves as a litmus test of whether digital asset treasury companies, or DATs, can withstand a sharp downturn in the market.

Evernorth issued its announcement at 5:04 p.m. ET on August 27, 2026. By 10:30 p.m. EDT that day, when The Block published its report, XRP was trading at $1.46, up 4% over 24 hours, with a market capitalization of about $91.6 billion.

A regulated wrapper for XRP exposure

Evernorth is positioning itself as a public-market option for institutional investors who want exposure to XRP without buying the token directly. The company also intends to invest in XRP infrastructure and employ treasury methods designed to increase XRP holdings on a per-share basis.

In the August 27 announcement, founder and CEO Asheesh Birla said the company’s plan is to “enter public markets as blockchain utility continues to grow, and we believe institutional finance will increasingly be built on-chain.” He added that the company is “designed to accelerate XRP’s role in that work.”

That places Evernorth in a growing pool of companies. Galaxy’s first survey found 105 DAT firms dealing in 13 tokens, and by April 2026 the number of tokens held in DAT portfolios had expanded to 27. An XRP-centric company supported by Ripple would build on that concept, giving investors access to a token that has been traded mainly through spot markets and futures, and more recently through exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Inside the Armada SPAC merger

Evernorth’s route to Nasdaq runs through Armada Acquisition Corp. II, a Cayman Islands special purpose acquisition company. The parties signed their business combination agreement on October 19, 2025, with Ripple Labs also named as a party. The transaction folds Pathfinder Digital Assets into a Nevada-incorporated holding company.

SEC filings cover up to 34,499,992 Class A shares and warrants to purchase up to 11,499,992 shares. If shareholders approve the deal and it closes, the combined company is expected to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker XRPN. Evernorth’s investors include Ripple, Arrington Capital, SBI Group, Pantera Capital, Kraken and GSR.

Why the timing looks precarious

The deal is advancing just as enthusiasm for treasury companies has faded. Galaxy analysts said in April that “the raise-and-hold era is over,” pointing to market-to-net-asset-value ratios that had dropped to 1 and to companies liquidating crypto to fund buybacks. ETHZilla has sold $40 million worth of ETH to finance its buybacks, and Sequans of France sold some of its BTC to pay off its debts.

Evernorth has already faced that pressure firsthand. Cryptopolitan reported on November 8, 2025 that the company was sitting on roughly $78 million in unrealized losses on its XRP position shortly after building it. The same report cited an estimated $17 billion in retail investor losses tied to DAT-company trades.

That context is what makes Evernorth’s milestone significant for the wider crypto market. The SEC’s declaration of effectiveness clears a registration and disclosure hurdle; it is not an endorsement of Evernorth, XRP or the DAT model. For public-market investors, the relevance is less about a new token thesis than about whether the structure can still attract capital after a period in which premiums have compressed and some firms have been forced to sell assets or buy back stock.

What has to happen next

The transaction is not complete. Armada shareholders are scheduled to vote on the business combination on September 30, 2026, while Evernorth expects the deal to close in late Q3 or early Q4 2026, subject to shareholder approval and other closing conditions.

There is also an important ticker distinction. Armada’s Class A shares already trade on Nasdaq under XRPN. What remains pending is the completion of the merger and the transition to the combined Evernorth company, not the ticker’s first appearance on Nasdaq.