XRP’s price disconnect from real-world usage is raising concern as Evernorth CEO Asheesh Birla signals institutional adoption remains too limited to support sustained demand, despite expanding infrastructure ambitions across the network.
A divergence between market pricing and perceived usage has drawn attention within the digital asset sector as Evernorth CEO Asheesh Birla posted on X on March 21, outlining his view on XRP’s current positioning. He connected the mismatch to limited large-scale institutional deployment.
“A commentary I’ve heard within the XRP community this month is some version of ‘why is XRP price dislodged from adoption metrics?’” Birla wrote. He explained:
“Here’s my quick take: XRP is not yet a liquidity bridge at scale. The version of XRP that we believe could drive sustained utility demand is when banks and businesses leverage it as working capital.”
Meanwhile, broader market data and institutional reporting as of March 2026 point to what analysts describe as a structural pivot in XRP adoption, even as prices consolidate between $1.45 and $1.49. Growth has been concentrated in institutional channels, including spot XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that recorded more than $1.3 billion in net inflows within their first 50 days. In addition, Evernorth has filed Form S-4 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to pursue a Nasdaq listing while holding about 388 million XRP as a treasury reserve asset.
Separately, Evernorth’s official account on X described a broader strategic framing for the asset on March 20, positioning XRP as part of a comprehensive financial infrastructure. The post highlighted its evolution beyond payments into functions such as tokenization, lending, collateralization, and settlement, while emphasizing a unified ledger model designed to support multiple financial activities within a single system.
Within that context, the company outlined its operational approach, noting that it maintains XRP in an actively managed institutional treasury while contributing to decentralized finance development tied to the network. It described capabilities to lend, allocate, and utilize holdings in ways aligned with intended network design, alongside assertions about regulatory clarity and integrated functionality across use cases.
The Evernorth CEO added:
“We see signals that institutional use is growing. Just not as fast as the traffic from everyday people.”
“This is not investment advice or a price prediction. But I know which set of data we focus on at Evernorth,” he concluded.
Limited institutional-scale usage is preventing utility demand from aligning with market pricing.
Use as working capital by banks and businesses could create sustained demand.
The firm sees XRP as infrastructure supporting lending, settlement, and tokenization.
Growth is visible but still lagging behind retail activity levels.