Evernorth is set to become a publicly traded XRP treasury company after shareholders of blank-check firm Armada Acquisition Corp. II approved the proposed business combination between the two companies. Publicly traded treasury companies hold digital assets on their balance sheets, meaning their shares trade on conventional exchanges and can be bought through standard brokerage accounts — a route to token exposure for investors who do not hold the asset directly.

The deal is expected to close on Oct. 7, with shares of the combined company scheduled to begin trading on Nasdaq under the ticker XRPN the following day, subject to remaining closing conditions.

The vote clears a key hurdle in the path to the listing. Evernorth filed its Form S-4 registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in March, and the filing was declared effective in August, leaving shareholder approval as one of the final steps before the Nasdaq debut.

At closing, Evernorth expects to hold about 473 million XRP, which the company says would make it the largest publicly traded pure-play XRP treasury company. According to Thursday's announcement, the transaction is expected to raise about $300 million in gross cash proceeds, including $225 million from related private placements, $30 million in convertible note financing and roughly $48 million from Armada II's trust. Investors have also contributed XRP directly to the transaction.

XRP was trading at about $1.50 at the time of publication, according to CoinGecko data, putting the value of Evernorth's expected 473 million-token treasury at roughly $710 million. XRP is the native token of XRP Ledger, an open-source blockchain.

Evernorth's investors include Ripple, Kraken, Pantera Capital, SBI Group, Arrington Capital and GSR. The company plans to grow its XRP holdings per share through yield strategies, participation in the XRP ecosystem and capital markets activities — an execution track record investors will be able to follow once regular trading begins.

Crypto treasury SPACs face market headwinds

Evernorth's planned Nasdaq debut comes as other crypto companies have pursued SPAC mergers to reach US public markets, with markedly different outcomes this year. SPACs are shell companies that list on an exchange to raise capital before merging with an operating business, offering a route to public markets that sidesteps a traditional initial public offering.

Tokenization firm Securitize began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in July after completing its merger with Cantor Equity Partners II, while CoinShares made its Nasdaq debut in April following a $1.2 billion merger with Vine Hill Capital Investment Corp.

Crypto treasury companies have also faced setbacks. Ether Machine scrapped its planned merger with Dynamix in April, citing unfavorable market conditions and ending plans to launch a $1.5 billion yield-bearing Ether fund through the deal.

In July, Adam Back's Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company and Cantor Equity Partners I also scrapped the original terms of their proposed merger and postponed a shareholder vote indefinitely while negotiating a deal that would "better reflect market conditions."

Whether Evernorth's combination closes on schedule, with its remaining closing conditions still pending, will add another data point to a mixed year for crypto public listings.