Ripple’s Two-Speed Reality: A Nasdaq Debut Looms as the Token Stalls at $1.41

XRP trades flat at $1.41 despite a 59% monthly jump in tokenized real-world assets on the XRP Ledger, as Evernorth Holdings prepares for a Nasdaq listing and Ripple CEO rules out an IPO.

The XRP ecosystem is firing on two very different cylinders. On one side, the token itself is stuck in a rut, trading at $1.41 and nursing a 35% year-on-year decline. On the other, the infrastructure beneath it is humming — tokenized real-world assets on the XRP Ledger have surged past $3 billion, a 59% monthly jump, while a company sitting on a $656 million XRP war chest prepares to list on the Nasdaq.

The disconnect between network activity and price action has rarely been starker.

A $656 Million Treasury Heads for the Public Markets

Evernorth Holdings, an XRP treasury company backed by Ripple, SBI Holdings, Pantera Capital and Kraken, is pushing ahead with its Nasdaq ambitions. The firm holds over 473 million XRP — valued at roughly $656 million at current prices — and has just cleared a key regulatory hurdle. The SEC accepted its amended Form S-4 on April 28, paving the way for a merger with special purpose acquisition company Armada Acquisition Corp. II.

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, creating what would be the first publicly traded pure-play on XRP.

To strengthen its board ahead of the listing, Evernorth nominated Robert Kaiden, CFO of the OpenAI Foundation, as a director candidate. He joins an unusual mix of expertise: Antalpha COO Derar Islim, Ted Janus, and Ripple’s chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty. The board now blends AI governance, crypto infrastructure, and traditional finance under one roof.

CEO Asheesh Birla, a longtime Ripple executive, plans to generate returns beyond simply holding the token, targeting yield through lending protocols and DeFi strategies.

Garlinghouse Pours Cold Water on a Ripple IPO

While Evernorth races toward a public listing, Ripple’s own CEO is slamming the brakes on similar speculation. Speaking at the XRP Las Vegas 2026 conference, Brad Garlinghouse was blunt: “We have not prioritized going public for a whole bunch of reasons.” He pointed to the weak post-IPO performance of crypto firms like BitGo, Gemini, and Kraken as a cautionary tale.

Still, former CTO David Schwartz acknowledged that internal discussions about a potential listing continue. The political shift following Trump’s election win has rekindled the debate, though Ripple insists its focus remains on compliance and institutional adoption. The company received a conditional OCC trust charter in December, and Garlinghouse confirmed all conditions are within Ripple’s control.

Tokenized Assets Boom, But the Price Won’t Budge

The XRP Ledger’s real-world asset market has exploded, now ranking fifth globally and second in monthly growth behind Arbitrum. The catalyst? Last August’s settlement with the SEC, which gave legal departments at major asset managers the green light to invest.

Independent projects are driving the surge. Justoken’s energy-backed JMWH token alone accounts for more than half of the ledger’s volume. Ondo Finance and Ripple’s own RLUSD stablecoin contribute hundreds of millions more. Traditional institutions are also testing the waters — Deutsche Bank, Société Générale, and Aviva Investors are already experimenting with the infrastructure.

The London-based exchange Archax plans to bring another $1 billion in assets onto the network by mid-year.

Yet XRP sits at $1.41, well below its 200-day moving average of $1.79. The token has lost roughly 25% since the start of the year.

The $1.44 Wall and the Senate Clock

A structural barrier is keeping the price pinned. Roughly 60% of XRP’s circulating supply was acquired at an average price of $1.44, creating mechanical selling pressure every time the token approaches that level.

The next potential catalyst is the CLARITY Act, currently being debated in the U.S. Senate. A markup in the Senate Banking Committee is scheduled for the week of May 11. Standard Chartered analyst Geoffrey Kendrick estimates that progress on the bill could trigger between $4 billion and $8 billion in additional ETF inflows.

XRP spot ETFs have already attracted $1.29 billion in cumulative inflows since their launch. But the week through May 1 marked the first net outflows in three months, however minimal. In April, the six U.S.-listed products still pulled in over $81 million.

Whether the token can break through the $1.44 ceiling may depend on whether the Senate delivers the regulatory clarity that institutional capital is waiting for.