Evernorth CEO Says XRP Was Built for Finance, Expanding Beyond Digital Gold Narrative

The chief executive of Evernorth, Asheesh Birla, says the role of XRP is evolving as crypto markets mature amid geopolitical uncertainty.

He argues that the asset’s growing utility is pushing it beyond the “digital gold” narrative. Notably, Birla shared this perspective on X amid the resilience of crypto assets amid ongoing geopolitical tension.

Key Points

Crypto Resilient Amid Global Tension

Birla explained that geopolitical tensions typically trigger “risk-off” behavior in financial markets, reducing liquidity and increasing volatility. However, he noted that digital assets have shown resilience even as global markets react to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

According to Birla, recent market data indicates that some investors are rotating into crypto alongside traditional safe-haven assets such as Gold.

He pointed to March 2 market figures showing the Nasdaq Crypto Index rising about 5% while gold climbed roughly 3%, even as the S&P 500 remained largely flat. At the same time, oil prices surged amid geopolitical tensions.

Birla said these movements suggest that some investors are beginning to view digital assets as part of a hedge strategy similar to gold.

XRP Utility Expanding Beyond the Digital Gold Narrative

While crypto is often compared to gold as a store of value, Birla argued that blockchain networks are increasingly becoming the infrastructure layer for the next generation of finance.

In particular, he emphasized that XRP was designed with financial use cases in mind. According to Birla, XRP’s utility across lending, payments, and on-chain finance is expanding its role beyond being a digital store of value.

Birla has previously argued that the XRP Ledger was engineered specifically for real-world financial applications, offering near-instant settlement, low fees, and high throughput. These features allow it to support cross-border payments, liquidity management, asset tokenization, and decentralized finance at scale.

5/ XRP was built for finance. Its growing utility, from lending to payments to on-chain finance, expands the narrative beyond digital gold.

— Asheesh Birla | CEO at Evernorth (@ashgoblue) March 3, 2026

Crypto Rally Returns as Risk Appetite Improves

Birla’s remarks come as the crypto market rallies following easing fears around the Israel-Iran conflict.

Bitcoin recently broke above $74,000, marking its highest level since early February. The rally extended across major digital assets. Ethereum surged about 8% to reclaim the $2,100 level, while Solana gained more than 6%. XRP itself climbed roughly 5% to around $1.44 during the same period.

The move coincided with roughly $700 million flowing into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs since the start of March, asmarkets began to price in a more stable geopolitical outlook.

Although the conflict in the Middle East remains unresolved, the initial shock to global markets appears to be fading as oil prices stabilize and investors return to risk assets.

Evernorth Building Around XRP

Notably, Evernorth is positioning itself to benefit from the expanding financial role of XRP and the XRP Ledger.

Birla previously revealed that the company is building one of the biggest institutional XRP treasuries, targeting at least $1 billion in capital allocation to the asset. The firm plans to deploy XRP across settlement flows, treasury operations, tokenized asset frameworks, and institutional DeFi applications.

Evernorth also intends to generate yield from its XRP holdings and reinvest those proceeds back into the ecosystem. At the same time, it will be supporting new financial products and infrastructure on the XRP Ledger.

Birla believes the shift of traditional finance onto blockchain networks is only beginning and that systems designed specifically for financial use cases could capture a significant share of institutional activity as the transition accelerates.

For him, the evolution of crypto during periods of market stress is part of a broader trend. While assets like Bitcoin may continue to be compared with gold, Birla suggests networks such as XRP are positioning themselves as the plumbing for the future of global finance.