Evernorth's Birla: Companies Should Put XRP to Work, Not Just Hold It

Evernorth CEO Asheesh Birla argues that companies should not simply hold XRP on their balance sheets, but rather put it to work to generate yield. In an interview at WebX 2026 in Japan, he explained that Evernorth views XRP as an operational asset, rather than a passive treasury holding.

Birla believes blockchain's value goes beyond mere ownership, and that on-chain strategies can make digital assets more productive by creating new ways to generate returns. He said that companies will increasingly seek ways to generate returns from tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), and that the XRP Ledger is well positioned to support this shift.

The XRP Ledger has seen strong growth in RWAs, with the market growing to approximately $3.6 billion, representing around 24 times growth over the past year. Birla pointed to the rise of tokenized real-world assets on XRP Ledger as a sign of growing confidence in blockchain-based financial markets and the future of tokenization.